From our Ascended Life Community
a growing list of
Stories to Inspire
50. Stories to Inspire
There’s an amazing ‘merging’ happening… especially for the believers. The separation between Heaven and earth is being reduced... until eventually we will move back and forth seamlessly. Experiences in the Heavenly realms are getting more and more frequent and familiar. The fact is, these Heavenly realms have always been a part of our inheritance, we just didn’t have revelation and faith for experiencing them. Here, try this familiar verse:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ…” – Eph 1:3
So here’s a question: How many of those ‘Heavenly places’ are you familiar with? And it seems to say that we have to be IN those Heavenly places in order to be blessed with the “every spiritual blessing”.
Well, the good part is that God has a plan to bring Heaven and earth together into one.
“… that in the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” - Eph 1:10
This next story is a touching example of the seamless and impacting merging of the two realms!
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Could that be MY baby?
"I was seeing a hospice patient in his home. He was bedbound, unresponsive and had been non-verbal for several weeks. He was getting close to passing away. His family was gathered around and we were discussing how great Heaven must be. The patient opened his eyes, he started talking, and he went on and on about people he had seen… even people that I was told had already passed away. I remember him mentioning an Aunt Peggy… and his mother… and he kept talking about a baby that Aunt Peggy was holding… a baby girl.
The family was in shock initially and a granddaughter in the corner of the room started crying. So, I went over and put my arm around the granddaughter to give her comfort, thinking that maybe she was freaked out. But she looked up at me and said, “Grandpa doesn’t know this, but I lost a baby a few weeks ago.” Then she asked me, “Could that be my baby?” I told her maybe she should go talk to him.
She walked up to his bedside and without questioning him, he
immediately looked at her and said, “It’s her and she’s perfect and
beautiful and I can’t wait to go and hold her.”
So after all of that, there were more tears. He talked for a little while
longer before falling back to sleep. He never woke up again and he
passed away the next day.
Looking back, God not only provided peace for the family in their loss, but also peace to the granddaughter regarding her miscarriage. Through all of that, their faith in the Lord grew." - ML/MO
49. Stories to Inspire
Learning to live in the spiritual blessings which are found in the Heavenly places (Eph 1:3), needn’t take very long. Really, it only requires simple childlike believing.
Recently, we were in LA leading an ALC One-day seminar. Tamie had been invited by a friend although Tamie had never been in an ‘ascended life’ meeting nor even heard about living in the Heavenly places. But she was a serious believer and fairly solid in the Word. All day she listened and participated. I could tell she was ‘getting it’ and that her spirit was bearing witness.
That next week she had an occasion to activate what she had heard. In simple beginning ways, she moved into our Heavenly inheritance of co-governing with God. Tamie went to Father first, rallied around His Word, then ‘took’ His Word and imparted it into her sister-in-law. Well… the proof of the puddin’ is in the eatin’ (or hearing). 😊 Here’s the story...
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It's easy peasey - simply believe
“My sister-in-law has suffered from insomnia for a long
time - nothing has worked so she uses sleeping pills. I
called her and after I hung up I remembered the teaching
that I'd heard a few days earlier.
So, I prayed and saw myself in the Heavenly throne room. I presented her case and reminded the Father of His promise that HE would grant sleep to those HE loves. (Ps 127:2) Then, I ‘see’ myself claiming that promise and laying hands on her and blessing her in her bed.
She texted me the next day to say that she felt so refreshed. And that this was the first time she slept without any sleeping pills. In fact, she slept so well that she even dreamed. Praise the Lord!!!” – TA/CA
Addendum: She is steadily improving now.
48. Stories to Inspire
We shared with our long-time friend Karen, about how angels are sent to minister to us... and that she would definitely benefit from this amazing resource from the Heavenly places. She didn't know that it was OK to engage with angels. So, while we were with her, and with her permission, we prayed and opened a Heavenly door for her.
Here’s a story she texted me just 4 weeks later!
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Quit looking down... look up!
"Well... I have an angel story...
I went to watch the sunset 🌅 at Anini Beach last night. I put my car keys in side pocket of the beach chair. When we packed up to go home, I couldn't find them. We searched and searched. Finally, my husband Andy, had to bring me the spare car key.
I got up early this am before work to go look again at the beach. I was very discouraged. It was high tide. I walked up and down the beach and couldn't find
them. I figured that they must have washed out into the
ocean. I had been staring down at the sand while I was
walking. Finally, I stopped and out loud, I asked God to
send his angels to help me find my keys. I heard a still
small voice say "Quit looking down... look up"! There, two
feet in front of me, was a big tall stick in the sand and my
keys were sitting on top!!!
I laughed out loud! So thankful!!! I wish I had my camera... I would've taken a photo! It was so funny!" - KF/HI
47. Stories to Inspire
With so many new ascended life realities opening up before us, we're finding brand new ways of doing Kingdom business. Consider this:
"Ask of Me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession." - Ps 2:8
In the past, the only way to get to the nations, was to get a train, boat or plane ticket... 0r maybe connect with a Zoom call... because how else could you get in touch with the nations?
But with our freedoms in the Heavenlies... we can now 'travel' to destinations without ever leaving of home. And we have some amazing trophies to show for it!
In this next story, Jesus 'drafted' Tom in ways that he didn't expect. Without leaving his bed, and in a moment, Tom traveled over 1100 miles to defuse a national news debacle that was holding the nation spellbound.
O boy, this opens up crazy new possibilities... and offers new ways to interpret familiar passages of Scripture. How fun!!
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You want me to do what!?
In 1996, while lying on my bed, the TV news cast reported the 'Montana Freemen stand-off'. As I watched, I heard Jesus tell me that He wanted me to go to Montana for the purpose of ending this stand-off. Well, I had 'issues' with that. I told the Lord that I was not saying, "No", but had serious concerns regarding the practicality: I had no funds to spare. the ATF, FBI, and Montana State police were there and they would simply dismiss me if I said, "God told me". I had no vacation days and I had a wife and four children. I did not see how this was even remotely possible. I again reiterated to Jesus all of these 'facts' and concerns, but reminded Him that I wasn't saying, "No".
The very next thing that I was aware of, I was in Montana, in the
very house of the stand-off, standing in front of LeRoy M.
Schweitzer (the leader of the Freemen). I looked around the
room and saw the other Freemen, and I distinctly saw the
children forced to sit along all four walls. At the very same time,
I saw my own hotel room and bed. Weird! I was standing about 3 feet away from LeRoy and face to face with him.
At that point, Lord Jesus took control of me. He animated my gestures, and spoke what He wanted to say. I know it was Him, because I would never have said what Jesus said and not with the grace and compassion that Jesus used. I will leave out what Jesus said. But it was personal and to the point. Jesus was compassionate, yet firm. He was holding Leroy accountable.
Within 2 or 3 days, the news reported that LeRoy M. Schweitzer released the children and surrendered peacefully. The children were a significant part of what Jesus talked about. Well, as history will confirm, LeRoy was convicted, sent to prison, and died in prison.
I know what I experienced, but I've always been curious to know about LeRoy's experience? Did he see me. Did he see Jesus? What did he experience? Did anyone there see me? I may never know. I realize that to the reader this story sounds fairly subjective, but the external evidence seems to validate my experience. - TP/MO
46. Stories to Inspire
One of our many new frontiers in Heavenly realities has been in sending spiritual text messages. Yes, this sounds ‘new agey’, but even if new agers do it, remember, the devil never invented anything. Rather, he is a counterfeiter of something that God created. Jesus acknowledged that there are wrong ways of entering the spiritual realms... and He said that if we do it the wrong way we are a thief and a robber (Jn 10:1). So, it is our aim to find the Godly way of moving into these new frontiers. Jesus gave us specific instructions and parameters in John 10:9, “I am the Door. If any man enters he will be saved, and he shall go in and out and find pasture.” So what is the safe way? Hear from Him and then do it through HIM!!!
So how do you send a spiritual text? Of course, everything is by faith, just like when we pray for the sick or when we prophesy... or even when we get saved! But it boils down to engaging with God’s Spirit and your own spirit. 1) Ask Holy Spirit what He wants ‘sent’ and then 2) get ‘in touch with your spirit’ and 3) ‘push’… or believe that impression is landing in its intended focus. The only thing left is to believe, and then later, check in with the person you sent the ‘text’ to. We will no doubt have to grow in this... grow in hearing... grow in faith... just like a little child.
O boy!!! God is opening a LARGE door to the Heavenlies… larger than we ever realized. This next story ended with a surprising outcome and a happy heart.
“He’s blessed us with ALL spiritual blessings IN the Heavenly places.” – Eph 1:3
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She can cry if she wants to
Taking my que from Jesus who “knew their thoughts”, I engaged my spirit to send a ‘spiritual text’ to a fellow ascended life leader. We had given each other special permission to engage in this exercise. As I asked Holy Spirit what I should ‘send’, out of the blue I heard the phrase, ‘She can cry if she wants to’. That was so different that I thought it must be the Lord.
So I engaged my spirit and by faith, ‘sent the text’. The next day I called my friend and asked if he had received my ‘text’. He said he had completely forgotten about
our project. So I told him my experience and what I ‘sent’. He said,
“You know, yesterday I was counseling a married couple when the lady
began to cry. When this happened, the thought came into my mind,
“She can cry if she wants to.”
When he told me the account of the previous day, we were both
surprised and inspired. I suggested that it might be good to tell the
lady that the Lord had ‘hovered’ over her and endorsed her tender
time during that counseling session. My friend told the lady and she
exclaimed, “That 60s song was very special to me in an earlier time
of my life when I was going through difficult times.” The song is, ‘It’s My Party’ – by Leslie Gore (1963)
Don’t you just love the innovative and wonderful ways of God!! – MH/MO
45. Stories to Inspire
The ascended life has some exciting new frontiers. I say new… but actually many of these new frontiers are really old because they’re clearly in Scripture if we just realized what we’re reading. Today our topic is: ‘Expanding our spirit’.
So let me cite just three occasions where Jesus exhorts and models expanding our spirit.
Jesus said, “If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.” – Matt 10:13
Jesus and the centurion’s sick servant - The centurion said, “Just say the word, and let my servant be healed. And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.” – Lk 7:3-10
A Capernaum official’s son at the point of death. - “The official said to Jesus, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering. So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” – Jn 4:46-53
And one occasion involving Peter’s shadow…
“So that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid
them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter
passing by might fall on some of them.” – Acts 5:15
Here are some probing questions: 1) Can I activate my spirit beyond my body? 2) If so, how far can my spirit exercise influence? 3) How do I do this? 4) Does it require faith? 5) Can the measure of my faith determine how far I can ‘expand’ my spirit? These are exciting questions that will likely require fresh eyes and new faith to comprehend. But this Scripturally based 'new' frontier will exponentially expand our ability with another 'tool', to bring the Kingdom of God into any situation.
The following stories are told by my sister Leann Albrecht, who has been on this Heavenly ‘relocation’ journey for several years. These were her early experiences of purposefully expanding her spirit over people and things, as she felt prompted by the Lord.
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How big is your spirit?
Grocery store disturbance
“I was shopping for groceries when I heard a mother and child arguing with each other a few aisles over. I felt the Lord say, “Expand your spirit over them.” Well, I wasn’t sure that you can expand your spirit to that distance… but I tried. I brought them into the love of the Father and shalom of God. Then, I sort of forgot about the issue. A short time later, the mother and child entered my aisle and life was harmonious between them now.”
Peaceful plane ride
“I had just boarded a plane and sat down. Shortly, in the seat immediately behind me, a child being held on a mother’s lap began fussing and making a disturbance. I was perturbed and asked God what He was going to do about it. I ‘heard’ Him say, “What are you going to do about it?” I asked Him “What should I do?” He said, “Expand’ your spirit over the child.” And so I did and declared the love of the Father and shalom of God over them. Within minutes the child fell asleep and slept peacefully in its mother’s arms for the duration of the flight.”
Turbulence
“I was on a plane ride when it suddenly
experienced severe turbulence. I asked the
Lord what was going on. He said, “Expand
your spirit around the plane.” I wondered if
I could expand my spirit over an inanimate
object… but tried. I brought the whole plane
into the love of the Father and shalom of
God. Within moments the plane ride was
glassy smooth... for the remainder of the flight. As I asked the Lord about this experience, I felt that He said, “There are souls on this plane that needed to experience the love of God.”” – LA/TN
44. Stories to Inspire
Don’t you just love it when the Heavenly realm makes itself known in overt ways in our lives? Wow! It inspires us to be more committed to walk in sync with Heaven… because who doesn’t want to see the supernatural manifested in the natural realm! And BTW, that is most definitely a big part of our inheritance… to walk on earth and in Heavenly realities simultaneously.
This happened for Chris. Angels spared her life!
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Angels drove my car
This is my first experience of seeing in the Spirit realm.
I was at a hospital with a friend and her family, in Portland, Maine. My friend’s brother had been in a serious motorcycle accident and was declared brain dead. After being in the hospital for 48 hours straight, in the very early morning hours, my friend and I left the hospital in one car while her family followed in a car behind us. I was driving home and very tired. I closed one eye to see more clearly… and put my head outside the window, etc. That worked for about an hour.
All of a sudden I was overcome by shear exhaustion where I knew I could not keep my eyes open. I know this section of the road very well. There were cliffs on both sides of the road. I thought, “O my goodness I’m going to crash. Our friends will drive up on us and find us in a devastating accident. What more could happen to these people?!” My eyes seemed to almost be forced closed and I didn’t have time to pull over. So I said, “Jesus help!” Then my eyes closed.
With my eyes closed I saw 3 huge angels
around my car. When I saw them, I remember
thinking, “O Thank You, Jesus”…because there
was no way I could open my eyes. I don’t know
how long I had my eyes closed, but when I
opened my eyes, I could still see the angels.
They were huge beings… like really buff strong,
strong men. The had really long hair. Their faces
were very bright, there was a brightness about all of them. They were wearing white.
They were around the front of my car and then I realized that there were angels all around my car. And I noticed that my car was lifted off the ground… not 10 feet… just a little bit. I took the steering wheel and whipped it back and forth, but the car didn’t respond at all. I thought, “O my word! There are angels lifting my car off the ground!”
That jolted me so much that I was now wide awake. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. At the point that I was fully awake and aware, the angels gently lowered the car back down those few inches onto the ground. I could feel it… like the smoothest airplane touchdown landing that you’ve ever felt. I can still feel it today.
The car was now back on the road. Then I took the steering wheel and whipped it back and forth again. This time, the car veered back and forth and then the angels were gone. I was in awe.
I jabbed my sleeping friend pretty hard, “You won’t believe it! I just fell asleep, and angels drove the car.” She said, “Maybe you ought to pull over and sleep a bit.” I said, “Are you kidding me, I could drive to California now, if I needed to. You don’t get it, I fell asleep and God sent angels to spare our lives.”
That experience gives me much consolation when I go through difficulties. It was amazing to have that Heavenly veil pulled back a little bit for me to see that I have angels assigned to me. They actually have a tangible effect on things in my life. I’m still in awe as I tell the story today! – CH
43. Stories to Inspire
Angel sightings and angel engagements are on the rise. Heaven is releasing a greater grace for the saints to engage with our angelic partners. Approximately 300 mentions of angels in Scripture give many examples of the partnership of angels and saints. So, should the 'former house' have a greater experience than the 'latter house'? Of course, not!
Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” Which means that if we are born again, WE CAN SEE! As someone models this for us and as we are trained, our faith begins to rise to walk in our God-given inheritance. Sometimes, all we need is for someone to tell us that we can!!!
You can see! We all can see! It's our inheritance.
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Angel of Courage!
Recently, I was at a celebration-of-life service for a long-time friend Dennis. His son Pat, had promised his dad that he would sing and play a certain song at the funeral. But Pat was so flustered that he messed up royally on the guitar. He stopped, turned aside and was about to give up completely. Everything was awkwardly silent for a few moments.
As a father, I felt compelled to ‘come alongside’ him so that he didn’t walk away defeated. I instantly engaged an angel to impart courage and strength
for him to press on. In just a few moments, Pat regained
his resolve and sang the rest of the song a cappella.
As I stayed engaged in the Spirit with Pat, I wondered if I
could see the angel with my eyes open. So, I focused my
attention on that part of the stage and sure enough there
was an angel who wrapped his arms/robes around him
and held him. It was a glowing soft apparition about 5-7’
wide and about 7-8’ tall. The angel stayed with him the
whole time.
Several times, I checked to make sure I was really seeing
this angel and even though the outline wasn’t crisp and
clearly defined, it was unmistakably an angel. I’ve ‘seen’
many angels with my eyes closed, but I’ve only seen them
a few times with my eyes open.
This graphic is constructed of an actual but trimmed picture of Pat singing during the funeral. The angel wings around him are photo-shopped in a way that portrays something very close to what I saw.
Later that evening, I messaged Pat the above account. He was grateful… and replied with the following…
FB Message from Pat
“I just want you to know that I could feel it. I had a friend with me that came to honor my dad. Last night after I walked off stage, he told me with the biggest smile I’ve ever seen on his face… “Dude… when you put your head down weeping, I thought you were going to quit for sure. Then, when you looked up and started singing a cappella, it sounded like the voice of an angel. It was the most powerful experience I’ve ever seen and the hairs stood up on my arms. God was with you and I think He touched me too.”
“I’ve never heard my friend talk like that. Thank you for sharing this Mark, thank you for serving with and loving my dad. Thank you and Debbie for being there and for your prayer.” – PD
Interesting note
My friend who passed away, was the principal of Dominion Christian School where in 1989, the school was visited with a very unusual and powerful move of God. Many of the children saw and engaged with angels and were escorted to and through Heaven… some great stories! How appropriate to have angels in attendance at his funeral! - MLH
42. Stories to Inspire
Religion hasn't done a great job of helping us experience the Heavenly side of our relationship with God. But a huge door has opened to the body of Christ in the last few years... a door that invites us to 'ascend' into the Heavenlies to experience our inheritance, first hand.
Vicky is a wonderful and precious woman of God and when it came time to try something new, she was willing. And what's so cool is that God met her at that first gesture of willingness. Without any mental 'sweat' she was immediately taken into her Heavenly inheritance - His Presence. That kind of Heavenly encounter leaves an indelible impact on our lives... and many times, it's deeper than we can actually articulate.
But isn't that just one of so many things that impress us about our Father? He's able to change our hearts when our heads don't even know what happened. It just makes us fall more in love with Him!
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First time experience... never to be forgotten
“I’ve never had an experience like this before."
"During an ‘ascension’ meeting with Mark at the Wilderness
Prayer Center, I focused my mind on going to Heaven. I had
a slight physical sensation of going up… and saw that I was
approaching the Throne… and then Jesus came to meet me.
I didn’t see any facial features but just ‘knew’ that it was Jesus. The feeling of love and acceptance and being completely cared for was the main way that I identified Him. The ‘greeting’ was very short because as I drew near to Him, I saw and felt something coming from Jesus like liquid love pouring over me and inside of me. I actually felt it go through me. Then it seemed to change and it became a waterfall pouring over me, cleansing me completely."
"It was a simple encounter but very powerful, refreshing and ‘filled my tank’, because I felt so valued that He would meet with me and pour His love in me. I will never forget this impacting experience, which is now a significant ‘memory stone’ in my relationship with Jesus.” – VN
41. Stories to Inspire
Heaven is waiting to be invited, engaged, activated. Really! Jesus said He could have called for thousands of angels (Matt 26:53). (He didn’t because that would have foiled His ultimate mission at the Cross.) Abraham bargained with angels, Manoah inquired of an angel, Jacob wrestled an angel for a blessing, Zechariah told an angel what to do, Mary questioned an angel, etc.
Wouldn’t it be disappointing to find out that we 'toughed it out alone', only to find out that we had one of the greatest resources of Heaven waiting for our signal to bring us into triumph?
In this next story, angels were solicited and engaged over this business, which yielded a rather dramatic outcome. How exciting as we discover all the Biblical possibilities we have with all of the Heavenly hosts... and as we learn the Heavenly protocols to engage them! We’re going to get good at partnering with Heaven!
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Takin' it to the streets - 54th St Grill
A few years ago, my friend Walt and I were looking for ways to invade and impact the business world with Kingdom realities. We knew an assistant manager of the local 54th St Grill and asked him for permission to come in every Tuesday morning before they opened so that we could pray over the building and for the business and staff, etc. He agreed and we prayed for about an hour each Tuesday morn. We aggressively engaged angelic ministry and assistance over the whole operation. The assistant manager and manager listened in from time to time. After about 6 weeks, it sort of felt like our assignment was over, so we notified the manager that we were finished.
A few days after that, there was a bank robbery in downtown
Kansas City. The thieves drove their get-away car south
through Grandview, MO and past 54th St Grill. For some
‘strange’ reason they decided to stop and rob the restaurant
on their way by. They entered the store with guns drawn
and were in the process of robbing the store. But just at
that time, as the Lord would have it, a police officer spotted
the get-away car, entered the store and quickly, without
incident, stopped the robbery, apprehended the criminals...
and recouped the stolen bank money, too.
Afterwards the manager excitedly exclaimed, “The reason that robbery got foiled is because Mark & Walt have been releasing angels over this restaurant for the last 6 weeks! It was because of those angels!”
Angels are waiting to be invited into our lives and into Kingdom activity and to minister to all that pertains to us. Don’t let them get bored! - MLH
“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” – Heb 1:14
40. Stories to Inspire
Holy Spirit prays powerful prayers through us (Rms 8:26). And His prayers are always:
Perfect prayers
Powerful prayers
Timely prayers
In alignment with Father’s will
Always gets answers to all of His prayers
And Paul says, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” – I Cor 14:15
Have you ever asked Holy Spirit what He’s praying through you when you’re praying in tongues? Try it next time. You might get a most wonderful surprise like we did.
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Holy Spirit surprise – travel in the Spirit
I was in a prayer meeting. We were all praying in tongues. I
suggested that we ask Holy Spirit what He was praying through
us and then ask if we could participate with Him. Within a minute
or so, and without warning or any lead-up ‘thought trail’, I found
myself ‘flying’ over Northern San Diego County – Vista and then Carlsbad, CA. I ended up about 150 feet above RC’s house. I could see the ocean in the distance and I could see down inside his house… but I didn’t ‘go in’. I was aware of the essence of the ‘burden’ that I was praying in tongues, but didn’t say anything in English. That lasted a few minutes and then the encounter ended.
At the end of the prayer meeting I told the group about my very vivid experience and informed them that the tickets were already purchased tickets for my wife and I to travel to SD County in two weeks. After that point my ‘flying’ encounter got completely ‘sealed off’ to me. I didn’t even think about it once, until near the end of this story.
My wife and I traveled by plane to San Diego. Without any thought of my spiritual ‘flying’ encounter, I called up my friend RC, and invited him and his wife out to dinner. RC said, “Come over to the house, we’ll talk and then go to dinner afterwards.” We did… and we had an amazing time. (In retrospect I realize that our conversation touched the essence of what I prayed about in the encounter.) We went out to dinner and had two hours of a super good time. Debbie and I remarked when we drove away, that was probably the most meaningful time we’ve ever had with them.
Two days later, I was riding in a car with another friend MH, who said, “Isn’t that where RC lives?” At that moment, the ‘flying’ encounter that I had with Holy Spirit in the prayer meeting two weeks before, suddenly reappeared from my memory. I quickly exclaimed, “MH, I came here in the Spirit two weeks ago and in our recent time with RC and his wife, we ‘lived out’ essentially everything that I encountered two weeks ago. Wow! It all unfolded like the encounter.”
We were both amazed! Two weeks ahead of time, Holy Spirit had taken me to set some things in place and in motion. Then He sealed it up, so that memory wouldn’t guide me. Then two weeks later, after the great time of fellowship was over, God unlocked my memory so that I recalled the encounter and could see the power of traveling in the Spirit and traveling in time.
Wow! Wow! Wow! This ‘above the line’ world is so fascinating and captivating. More Lord! – MLH
39. Stories to Inspire
Most of us believe in angels. It’s likely that many of us believe that angels attend to us. But most of us have very little understanding of angels and much less interaction with angels. What would it do for you to ‘see’ your angels actively engaged in their assignments over your home and over you? Would that inspire you? Would you feel more protected, secure and emboldened in your life and family? I think the answer is unquestionably, “Yes!”
That’s what happened to a couple of our friends. Without any preconceived expectation, they saw something which gave them a great deal of faith to believe that they were receiving the supernatural help of angels on patrol, protecting their home.
I think you’ll like this simple but impacting story from Tyler and Crystal.
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Angels on assignment
"A few weeks ago, our neighbor drove by and said that they “saw our cat entertaining a family of raccoons” in our front yard. That neighbor called and suggested that we view it on our security cameras. We accessed the camera memory and found something very different…
We never did see the cat and raccoons, but were surprised to see this wispy ‘figure’ move across our yard just in front of our porch, as if it was an angel on patrol. Very encouraging and inspiring!
A few days ago, without any prompting, our daughter said that she saw an angel in our back yard and said it was very similar to what was on our cameras a few weeks ago.
Thank God, the Heavenly realms are becoming so much more real, these days!” – TS/MO
(Starts at about 5 seconds in... a figure moves across the lawn from our right to left,)
38. Stories to Inspire
How many times have you discovered a phrase tucked away inside a verse that you know so well? It was like the Light of Heaven shone on it in a brand-new way, revealing a brand new rhema. And when that rhema bursts alive, you find that it is easy to embrace or walk in the reality of that new insight.
That’s the power of Revelation. When revelation comes, it also brings the permission and empowerment to walk in the reality of that revelation. This is so clear in Col 3:4.
“When Christ, who is our life, appears, we shall appear with Him in glory.” – Col 3:4
Let me elaborate on that verse, like this:
As often as Jesus appears to you... and in whatever way He appears to you... He brings with Him the permission and empowerment for you to manifest in that same glory that He just manifested.” – Mark’s Expanded Version
O boy!!! So Julie found a little phrase tucked away in a very familiar verse. There it was. Had it been hiding in there all this time? Of course it had. Evidently God thought she was ready to take the next step.
And so she did. She engaged with the living Word of God. You’ll like Julie's story. And you’ll want to try it. That’s the power of testimonies.
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And I will manifest Myself to him
Yesterday morning, my husband Jeff and I were talking about John 14:21, which says,
“And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
After Jeff went to work, I remained in the living room, sitting
in one of the fireplace chairs, pondering this verse that seems
to promise us that if we love Jesus He will personally appear
to us. What an amazing promise!
So I closed my eyes and said to the Lord, “I love you, Lord,
please manifest Yourself to me.” Then when I opened my
eyes and looked at our couch, this is what I saw!
On the velour blanket, there was an image of Jesus‘ hand…
and His arm up to His shoulder… and the sleeve of His robe.
Do you see it? And can you see the nail print on His hand?
What an amazing God we have! So faithful and true to His promises!
So the next morning, guess where I had my quiet time?... in that very place, in His arms! – JE/KS
37. Stories to Inspire
Our Heavenly 'family' is getting more real, more relevant and more practical all the time. What a gift from our most loving Father!
People ask frequently, "So how does this change your life?"
And that's a great question. I'd want to know, also. For starters, when a person's heart gets tenderized and their mindset about Heavenly realities gets upgraded, that a real blessing, right!?!? But when our circumstances are being radically effected for the good, that becomes the 'icing on the cake'.
A friend of mine is experiencing some very real life changing benefits from partnering with her angels... which is just one category of Heaven's many resources to the saints.
What would you think if this was your family? Would you be happy? You betcha!
Due to the personal nature of this story the names have been withheld or changed.
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Reconciler is on the job!
My family has been disconnected for the past 5 years, which
was when a disastrous Christmas resulted in disconnection of
relationships and family members taking sides. It was heart
breaking for this Mama to watch it unfold. But God has been
faithful to grow my faith and equip me with faith-tools to
bring breakthrough and reconciliation in my family.
So, I met a new angel named Reconciler, about a month ago. It has been really fun to partner with Reconciler in assignments for my family. Since I've met and partnered with him, here are a few wonderful developments with my adult children and their families.
1. My son called to tell me of a dream he had about 2 weeks ago. In the dream his sister came to visit and met her niece and nephew she had never met. My son woke feeling hopeful, peaceful and encouraged about the possibility of reconciliation!! Woot! Woot!
2. Another son called and wanted to let me know they would like to come visit. (We haven’t seen them since last summer. They have chosen to not be together because of covid.) While here, some very painful situations from 20 years ago were brought up in a conversation - blaming me. The Lord gave me grace to stay 'present' and listen. The result was that my son said, “Mom, I don’t think I have ever said this, but I want to celebrate you for taking the courage to leave Dad.” That was a 180 from where the conversation had started.
3. More family was here last weekend. We had a delightful time. I asked my son for a private meeting in my office and God gave me grace to ask questions and share my heart with him around a story he had told me that I had a very different perception of. He listened and I felt his heart shift…he stood up and walked to me and gave me a big long hug and said, "Mom, I love you." Woot! Woot!
4. Next, I received a text message from a daughter (another big disconnect with she and her family) asking us to come for Grandparents Day at my granddaughter’s school. We made the 7 hour trip and had a wonderful time with our granddaughter at her school and spending time together with her family. I am so grateful for hearts opening to connection.
5. More recently, I received a call from my son. He had taken the day off. He shared what he is learning about meditation! My ears perked up! He asked me if I would lead in a meditation/prayer... however I wanted... with him on the phone. Wow, so cool! So I did both. It was a sweet heart connection that we had not experienced before.
6. A few days ago, I received a call from my oldest daughter. I haven’t had any communication from her for months. She called to apologize for the things that she said to me the last time we talked. Wow! Guess who is at work! Reconciler!
I'm thanking God for letting me partner with my angel Reconciler.
I am so grateful that we are learning to meet our angels and partner with them. When there had seemingly been no evidence of healing in the family, the tide has shifted and fruit is coming forth.. Glory to God! - MD/MO
36. Stories to Inspire
Our Heavenly inheritance is expanding all the time. Just one of those areas of inheritance has been traveling in our spirit with Holy Spirit to do Kingdom missions. And it’s been an amazing adventure.
But, as we all know, it's also Biblical to ‘travel’ in our body. Jesus did it, Philip did it, Ezekiel did it, Paul did it… etc. And we even have modern day examples of it.
A convincing and significant record of these phenomena are recounted in the writings of the Catholic mystics (Remember, that was the only church there was until about 500 years ago). Sadly, we lost many of those Heavenly realities. BUT, what we lost is being regained in this last century. And we’re actually seeing some of this recuperation happen right before our eyes.
Don’t you love it! We’re stepping into that same reality that inspired John to write:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life.” – I Jn 1:1
These 'Stories to Inspire' are of the ‘seen and touched’ kind! Thank You, God!
Continue reading as my sister Leann Albrecht, tells of when her friend ‘disappeared’ for a while to go on a Kingdom mission.
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Where’s Betty?
It was a Tuesday evening worship service. Betty took her place on the same seat in the front row, where she always sits.
That day there had been a huge and very devastating earthquake in Nepal. So we spent time during worship, praying for Nepal.
As I was leading worship and sometime in the middle of our time of prayer, I looked up and realized that Betty wasn’t in her seat. I just thought that she may have stepped out for a minute to go to the bathroom. But ten minutes later she was still gone. I thought to myself, “I hope she’s alright. I’ll ask her later.”
Afterward, Betty was walking around, so I asked her, “Are you ok?”
“Sure, why?”
“You were gone from your seat for a while during worship.”
“No way. I was here the whole time.”
“I thought you may have gone to the bathroom.”
“No I never left my seat.”
“Ok then where were you?”
“I was in Nepal, walking the streets. People were bumping into me because they couldn’t see me. I could smell the street life and hear and feel the terror. So, I released the Presence of God… the Peace and Power of Jesus over the people in the streets. Then I came back.”
Even as we talked about it afterward, Betty was completely unaware that she had not only traveled with Holy Spirit in her spirit, but in physical form, too. It was very hard for her to comprehend!
What a deal!! This Heavenly mission with Holy Spirit involved Betty’s spirit AND body! And there’s so much more ahead, for all of us!
35. Stories to Inspire
Are you ready to translate or travel in the Spirit? Well, get ready. It's becoming much more common.
In history we’ve heard of an occasional crazy cool story of those who have traveled in the Spirit on missions to other places in the world and then returned to tell the amazing stories. We've even heard of a very few who've brought back artifacts... or maybe they still had dust on their feet from their travels on dirt roads, etc. These accounts intrigue us immensely, but may tend to stretch our envelope of credibility.
In the middle 1900s there was a group of intercessors in California called the 'Ladies of Gold'… and they were members of a prayer ministry called the Golden Candlestick. There are confirmed accounts that these ladies physically traveled in the Spirit for up to days at a time… and then returned with artifacts from their Heavenly missions. A book entitled Ladies of Gold: The Remarkable Ministry of the Golden Candlestick - Vol 1 by James Maloney, relates some of these incidents. This group mentored James Maloney who then ministered widely until he passed into his eternal reward in 2021. Accounts like these are special forerunners and heralders of what's available for more than just a few.
The truth be told, as we’re entering the Kingdom age, the mode of operation in the Kingdom is getting upgraded all around us. New frontiers are opening up. And if you just think about it; If God is going to change the expression of Christianity in a single generation, then we'd better be prepared to be OK with some radical new upgrades!!!
Listen to this account of my good friend’s daughter who traveled in the Spirit in her dream and then found something very unusual the next day, which validated her travel the night before. Was she actually there in her spirit only… or in body and in spirit? You decide!
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Look what I found!
My local trusted friend has a teenage daughter. (Her
name shall remain anonymous, so we’ll call her ‘Susie’.)
Susie's heart had been deeply stirred while on a missions trip
to a foreign country a few years ago and since then she's
been gripped with becoming a missionary.
Recently, ‘Susie’ had the dream of being in Guatemala on a missions trip. In the dream, a little girl spent quite a bit of time making a bracelet. ‘Susie’ did not know the little girl nor know her name. There wasn't too much more to the dream. But it’s what happened afterward that makes this dream and this story so special. The next day, in a random search, ‘Susie’ was surprised to find the exact same bracelet in her purse… the same design and same materials! (Actual bracelet in picture) Susie had never seen this bracelet before, except in the dream.
‘Susie’ told no one about this experience, except her parents… and she wants to remain anonymous. She has traveled in the Spirit, and in her dreams, but has never brought back artifacts before this. So what do you think? Was she there in spirit only… or in body and spirit?
O boy!! The Heavenlies are getting more real all the time!
34. Stories to Inspire
How would you know if a Heavenly entity was trying to get your attention? Would they talk to you… would they knock on the door… would they cause a feather to fall in front of you… would they appear in a dream… or ??
You see, as we begin to believe Heb 12:22-23 more fully, we realize that we are currently in the midst of innumerable angels and we are with the church of the Firstborn and all those who’s names are registered in Heaven, etc. They’re all around us… because we’re in their territory – if we believe our Bibles. So the communities of earth are learning to integrate with the communities of Heaven. Paul charges us to set our affections on these things above… don’t think about earth-things anymore (Col 3:1-2).
“But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,…” – Heb 12:22-23
So, not long ago we were activating our faith to engage with all the entities in that passage. A thought popped into my mind, so I simply spoke, “Be open to a melody of a song which may help you be aware of one of these saints in ‘the cloud’ nearby.”
Here Debbie relates what she encountered during that activation…
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Dad’s favorite song
One of my father’s favorite songs was Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
Years ago, in a beautiful outdoor setting at The Garden Gate Tea
Room, a curious thing happened. We were leading worship at a
benefit in my father’s honor, and were in the middle of singing
this very song, when someone came up and whispered in my ear
that Dad had just passed away. I looked up to the clear night sky
full of bright shining stars, and with tears streaming down my face,
we continued to sing…
Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His Glory and Grace
Some of my last words to Dad were thanking him for leading me to Jesus. So when I hear this song, I always think of him. But now, this song has taken on new meaning.
As Mark led us in an activation, I couldn’t hold back the tears. I realized that Dad had been singing that song to us the night he went home. I understood for the first time, that Dad was in the great cloud of witnesses worshiping at the Heavenly Garden Gate while we worshiped from the earthly Garden Gate. And we were singing the same song together. I felt Heaven and earth merging more than ever before.
Now, every time I hear this song, I will be even more aware of the rich blessing and presence of all those in this "great cloud of witnesses".
Thanks, Dad. Thank you for continuing to remind me to turn my eyes upon Jesus. - DH
33. Stories to Inspire
“The Heavens declare the glory of God.” – Ps 19:1
Yes, we know that the initial interpretation of this verse is referring to the celestial heavens. But what if there is a broader meaning, such as when all of the resources (angels) of Heaven bring glory to God by their handiwork and service to the sons of men. Without a doubt, it causes our hearts to be amazed at the goodness of God.
Cindy and her family members in this story are faithful and solid Jesus lovers. Their long term track record of walking with God gives testimony that they are not fickle, flippant or flighty. But at this time in life, their hearts are awakening most delightfully to the ‘above the line’ realities. Now more than ever, these new discoveries are gripping their hearts with how good God is and the largeness of Heaven’s resources toward us… angels just being one of those resources.
Check out one of Cindy’s first experiences with her angels.
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I want my wallet back
“My daughter-in-law Lila, dropped her kids and friends off at the pool and then she ran to the store to grab a few things! Not wanting to take in her purse, she grabbed her wallet out of the purse and took out only her credit card! Her last memory of her wallet was of it being on her lap. Later when she couldn't find her wallet, she assumed that she had jumped out of the car and that it had fallen to the ground in the store parking lot! She texted us and asked us to commission our angels to help find it!”
“When this all first happened, Lila had decided she would trust the Lord completely and not lean on her own understanding! She would hold off a day before calling the card companies etc. She was able to stay in a place of peace all day!”
“This was my first time to ask my angels to go on assignment! I hadn’t even officially met them yet! I simply ask for their help in finding the wallet! Lila’s sister Sonya, also asked for a word of knowledge! What she got was a picture of a towel and the car. This was immediately confirmed in Lila’s heart because the children had left all their towels in the car on the front passenger seat instead of taking them to the pool! She had already taken the kids home when Sonya shared about the towel in the car. So she went to her friends’ house and asked if her kids had found her wallet with their things! She has 6 children. So when she finally asked the youngest, he said, “No,” but then looked in his backpack and there it was! I guess he had stuffed his towel in his backpack!”
“Praise God! And yes, “Thank you angels!” Getting to know our angels has been so much fun for all of us.” - CM
32. Stories to Inspire
Learning to see in the Spirit requires activating another sensory apparatus. For some that activation is easy and for others it’s very foreign.
When we get started, we never know whether we’ll have the ‘duck to water’ experience… or the incremental progress which comes with just being persistent. Sadly, it is easy to get discouraged if you find yourself in the second group.
Here is Karen’s very brief description of her incremental progress into seeing and experiencing in the Spirit realm. And even now, she is mostly engaged with intimate encounter with Jesus… and only occasionally has “noteworthy” experiences. Maybe you can relate to Karen and find confidence in your incremental growth into seeing in the Heavenlies.
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Getting started… Learning to see
When we were first introduced to going to the Heavenlies (ascending), I joined in the best I could. But, I did not see or sense anything, except peace. I went home hungry for more. So, I looked up Justin Paul Abraham and found an activation on YouTube. I recorded this 10-minute activation on my phone and every night when I took my bath I would play this activation. I remember Justin saying you don’t need to see, say or feel anything, just be present to Father.
So that is what I did. I “bathed” in His presence every night. I did not have any remarkable experiences but I knew that this practice was filling me with something I’ve not had before.
I think it was a few months later, I was on a Zoom call when I first saw something. Then, it was maybe another month or so when I had a healing encounter in Heaven where Jesus took me back to a traumatic experience in a hospital when I was 12 and changed everything!
I began this whole ascended life journey started just over one year ago. Now, I experience some noteworthy things occasionally, but most times in the last few months, I am sitting on a bench with Jesus or my face is in his hair (very intimate). - KD
31. Stories to Inspire
My friend Sully is a down-to-earth creative. He loves God as well as anyone, but isn’t exactly your garden variety cookie cutter church go-er. His style is somewhat maverick and very industrious. But God took him by surprise one evening in a group Heavenly experience.
There were several great Heavenly encounters that evening, but I think Sully’s impacted me most deeply because Sully wasn’t exactly Sully, when he shared his story. His eyes wouldn’t stop leaking… and his sharing was labored and jerky, between deep waves of emotion. One needed to look no further to be solidly convinced of the powerful nature of Sully’s encounter. He was tearfully happy and a much free-er man than I’ve ever seen. For Sully, Father’s highly personalized Heavenly encounter was unforgettable and life changing.
O Lord, for many more Heavenly encounters!!!
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Good dogs go to Heaven
"I was raised to believe that going to Heaven was going to be really cool when it happened. I was told, “You’ll be with Jesus, the 12 Apostles and all the saints.” Wow that’s cool, is Judas gonna be there, dad? He was an apostle, right?” Yes he was son; but he got cut from the team, and we made a trade with the Pharisees for Saint Paul”… You’ll be surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, too.” Okay, are they like fluffy clouds or more like stormy clouds? “No son, the cloud of witnesses is all those who have gone to heaven before you.” Oh, so Grampa will be there? “Yes he will”. That’s great, I miss him. What about Teddy (our dog that got killed by a car) and Toots (the turtle whose death was caused by eating beyond his shell capacity)? No son, only people will be in heaven. You see son, animals don’t have eternal souls like we do. Oh… uh… okay. And so, that was my introduction to Heaven. Oh, one more thing, you had to be dead to go there."
"Fast forward about fifty years and my friend Mark is in my barn with about 20 other people asking all of us if we want to “spirit travel, and go to heaven”. I no longer had a child’s view of Heaven, which was rather unfortunate, because Mark told us that children have a much easier time of spirit traveling because their head doesn’t get in the way of their “golden imagination”. I didn’t think I’d be going to heaven on Mark’s Spirit bus, with my thick head; but I figured, what the h…eaven, I’ll give it a try."
"And so, the journey began, with Mark gently encouraging us to let go of our earthly tethers; and enter through the door… “Jesus is the Door”. Those were the last words I remember him saying, my mind slipped it’s adult mooring and I was a child of God, wandering in His green and golden Heaven. I found myself (a much younger me, maybe 13 or so) wandering carefree in what appeared to be an endless green field, on a bright and beautiful sunny day. Suddenly, out of nowhere, my favorite dog, Jedidiah was there with me jumping out of his skin with joy, wagging not just his tail; but wagging his entire body. His excitement was all consuming and as I fell to my knees to hug him, he intensified his affection with sloppy wet face licks for his master. We were having such a joyous reunion that time seemed to stand still; and all that remained was joy, pure unabashed joy."
"I should tell you that I was in my 50’s, not a boy when Jedi was my dog. Also, you should know that Jedi was a ranch dog and didn’t like going to the vet, AT ALL; but when he started acting sluggish we took him anyway. We were heartbroken when our vet delivered the devastating news, our young, ‘wonderboy’ had inoperable cancer. A tumor was growing inside him and the best we could do was to keep him comfortable until it was time to put an end to his suffering. So when the time came, rather than add to his suffering by taking him to the vet, I took it upon myself to end his life. I’m not a stranger to killing; but putting down my favorite dog was a bitter pill to swallow."
"I’ve been around joy junkies for a while now; and to be honest, I never really trusted them. Haha. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t judge them for their “drunk in Spirit” behavior, I just simply didn’t have a clue as to what the heck they were doing or talking about. Well, that little trip to heaven really flipped the script on me. NOW I have an understanding of the joy they are talking about; but I have to say that little 3 letter word is woefully inadequate to describe my experience."
"When Mark asked if anyone wanted to share their experience to the group, I was very reluctant and finally, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, tried to explain what happened. However, I was so saturated by this emersion in God’s bottomless ocean of JOY, that salt water was springing from my eyes! Now, if those tears had letters or words, I’m sure they would tell you about this level of joy a whole lot better than me. I simply cannot find adequate words to describe it; and for 6 months I’ve tried! The closest I can get is “Heavenly Joy”… and I pray you and I get to have some more of it before we get there!" – SS
30. Stories to Inspire
As we grow in God, we realize that He gave us a new heart, we just have to learn to live from our new heart instead of the old patterns of yesterday. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (kainos – new species) (II Cor 5:17). We must be diligent to “get a new mind” (Rms 12:2) and experience “the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus 3:5).
O, it’ll take some time to wean ourselves from the earth-centered consciousness to the upgraded Heaven-based consciousness… but it’s so worth it.
Below, my buddy Earl shares a story of how God recently gave him a new heart… at least took away all the problems that his old heart used to have. If you have heart or blood pressure issues, let this testimony be your ticket to a position of faith for your own miracle.
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New heart granted
"About three months ago, I started to have issues with my blood pressure. When I exercised it would rise instantly to over 180/100 and I would feel pressure in my chest. Just resting I would feel it rise and my head would start to pound. It was constantly above 150/90 even when resting. I would wake up in the middle of the night with it 165/98. I was feeling fatigued all the time."
"Add this with my history of having a quadruple heart bypass surgery 9 years ago; I have been understandably concerned my arteries were getting clogged again. These were all the same symptoms I had before that last surgery."
"Another concern was the VA Doctor has been after me for years to take cholesterol-lowering medications and I refused them. I could hear them saying “I told you so.”"
"The first thing I did was give up salt and sugar. Yes, I salted bacon. Sylvia, my other Holy Spirit, has been saying I needed to quit the salt for years. Amazing what you will do when you hear the “shot across the bow.” That was five weeks ago and my resting blood pressure returned to normal, but I was still having chest pressure and extremely high blood pressure when I exerted any activity. Going up the stairs twice caused it to spike and my chest to tighten."
"At a meeting at Mark Hendrickson’s, I explained to him what was going on with me and asked for prayer sometime during the meeting. Later there was a time of prayer for those who needed healing… so several gathered around me to pray. God’s presence was wonderful. I felt that something had happened but no real outward signs."
"Five days later I went for a stress test at the hospital. I walked and eventually started jogging and continued for 9 minutes. They got my heart rate up to 125 and my blood pressure rose slowly from 125/76 to 135/80 to 175/88 and then when I rested it immediately came down to 135/65! No chest pressure at all!! After that, they put dye in my IV and had me run for another minute. After nuclear imaging, I was sent home. At 4 pm I received a call from the doctor’s nurse. She said there were no issues and no further tests needed. She said I was at low risk for heart problems. I have not had a high blood pressure reading since that prayer time."
"This gets even better. I have been taking 12.5mg of Carvedilol for a heart arrhythmia problem. The VA put a 24-hour heart monitor on me and my heart skipped a beat over 6,000 times during that period. I have been taking that for 9 years. I felt the Lord say to stop taking it, so that is what I did. That was several weeks ago and my heart has not skipped a beat. I have not had one side effect from the sudden discontinuation of the medication. I feel like my youth is being renewed according to Psalm 103:5, “Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” I have quoted this Psalm at least once a week for years. And to think this is under the older covenant. What does the New Covenant promise?" – EA
Follow-up: “It’s been a month now. All blood pressure and arrhythmia issues are still healthy normal as they should be. But I’ve discovered another blessing… Since I’m off of the meds, my short term memory has dramatically improved. I began noticing a marked improvement… and even my wife and friends have noticed it. Wow!!! Thank You, God!!!”
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget ALL His benefits!!!” – Ps 103:2
29. Stories to Inspire
This story may not be so much different from some other great ministries such as; Sozo, Theophostic, Healing Prayer or Emanuel Prayer…. all of which are methodologies of healing problematic issues in our past. But in most of those practices, it requires a ‘coach’ to assist you on this journey into our healing.
Isa 2:3 says that He (Himself) will teach us of His ways and we shall learn to walk in His paths AS we learn to ascend to the Mountain of the Lord. Did you catch that? We must ascend… that’s UP to to His territory. Thank God for people who come alongside us to help us into breakthroughs. We’re very grateful! But what would it be like if we were led by Jesus Himself?
I believe this is just one of the many benefits of learning to ascend into the Heavenlies. And that’s just for starters!!!
Listen to Karen’s recent story of how Jesus lovingly cared for her as He personally escorted her back in time to a place of a lot of pain for a young 12-year-old girl. He extracted that pain from her memories. It reminds us again that He wants to and is very capable of restoring all things in our lives.
Let’s let Him.
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Jesus rewrote the story
“Recently I was invited to go through the ‘Door’ of heaven (John 10:9). Here’s my experience.”
“Once I walked through the Door I heard water gushing and I saw a waterfall, high cliffs and beauty all around.”
“Jesus came to me and said, ”Let me love you,” and beckoned me to follow Him. He led me to a scene in my past where I was recovering from spinal fusion surgery. I was in a very hot and depressing room in a Children’s Hospital in Nebraska. My Mom was in the room with me.”
“When Jesus walked into the room it was suddenly filled with beautiful flowers and a lovely fragrance. He motioned for me (adult Karen) to crawl into the bed with young Karen and hold her.”
“One by one, He led me back into many memories in that hospital where I stayed for 3 months. There were many dark memories that happened in that hospital to myself and others. I was in that hospital 400 miles away from home at age 12 without my family — except for a couple of visits from them. Each memory we walked through, He transformed into a fun party. Every day became a big party in the ward with 30 other girls between the ages of 12-18. Some days we had our toes painted and some days we had our fingernails painted. We had angels attending us in a loving and kind way. There was an atmosphere of great joy in the place. Jesus rewrote the story… not only for me, but for every girl in that ward.”
“There is truly a transformation of joy happening inside of me because of this encounter. I love how Jesus took the memories and experiences and redeemed them as only He can. As a result, these memories are not holding me as a victim any longer!! Now, when I remember this season in my childhood I feel a sense of joy instead of dread.” – KD
28. Stories to Inspire
Have you ever had a regret in your past that you wished you could go back and do it right? Of course… most of us have. What if there was a way to do just that?
1. Is it Biblical to go back in time? Can we have any influence over something so pervasive as TIME?
Paul admonishes us to “redeem the time”. Most of us probably think that means to just work harder or more diligently. And I imagine that is good for starters but I’m confident that there is more latitude for interpretation of this verse. Here are just a few references to changes of time in our Bibles.
“Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” – Eph 5:15-16
“And another king shall rise up… and he will intend to change times and the law…” – Dan 7:25
Sun went backward ten steps for Hezekiah – II Kngs 20:9-11
“So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day.” – Josh 10:13
2. So how can I change things back in time? How can I change things that seem buried in my past?
Well, for starters check out a post on my blog of how a daughter was physically healed without knowing that her mother went back in time and “rewrote the script.”
And now, check out Donna’s story as she remakes a choice in an event that happened many decades before.
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Go back and remake your choice
“A few years ago, I read Nancy Ravenhill’s story and was impressed with how she prayed for Jesus’ help during some abusive times as a child. Her story reminded me of something that happened to me when I was a little girl. I wished I could have asked Jesus for help then, but at the time I didn’t know to do that. Instead, my experience brought fear into my life.”
“Several months after reading Nancy’s book, I heard Patricia King speak at a conference. She said that Jesus, as our redeemer, “buys back and reestablishes”. She said, “If there is an area you have remorse over, go back into the memory with Jesus. Repent, receive forgiveness. Then make the right choice. He can then fix and redeem the situation.””
“I decided to go back to my childhood experience and remake my choice, which I didn’t know how to make when I was young.”
“What happened—more than 50 years ago—was that I “saw” a man in my closet, an old man wearing a suit. I was afraid of him and afraid to get out of bed. My mom came, opened the closet, and showed me that no one was there. But the fear remained throughout my childhood and into adulthood. Looking back on this incident through the years I always saw that man in the closet.”
“I went back in time in my imagination to the experience with the intention to make a better choice than I made as a little girl. I told Jesus I was sorry that I didn’t ask for His help back then. I asked Him to help me and to take care of the man in my closet. It was that simple. The next part was not a product of my imagination. I saw Jesus angrily dropkick that man right out of the house. Gone for good! I knew Jesus was not happy about what had happened to me, and that too was healing. From then till now I see only an empty closet.” – DB
27. Stories to Inspire
Every good father wants his children to begin to learn his heart and his values and his world. We proudly introduce our children to the places we grew up and to the important people in our lives. Our hopes are that in so doing that it will help form a paradigm for them to mature well.
And our Heavenly Father is no different. Jesus said, “It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom.” – (Lk 12:32)
So how do we become familiar with our Father’s world? Well, Jesus said that we can’t even get into the Kingdom of Heaven unless we become like a little child. I think part of becoming like a little child involves learning how to simply recognize our Father’s leading. If we can learn Father’s voice and respond to it, then we can be assured we’re safe to explore new territories.
Sometimes, I employ a simple activation that usually yields some pretty astounding experiences – sometimes tender tear-filled and powerfully personal… and sometimes hilarious, accompanied with lots of laughter. God’s ways are way more personal and fun than we ever expected. This is just one activation that can launch us into a process of wonderful discovery of our Father’s world.
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Sacred heart angel
At The Well – my sister and bro-in-law’s church in the Nashville area – we initiated an activation to become familiar with our angels. We asked Holy Spirit to put something in our left hand… and with our right hand to take the first name that came to mind. This would be a child-like ‘first step’ into the discovery of the function and identity of one of our angels.
My sister Leann, felt like a glass heart was put in her left hand, but then the glass heart turned into a real beating heart. The first name that came to her mind was ‘Sacred’. One possible application of those two things is that Leann may have an angel that brings and reveals the Sacred Heart of the Father to her and helps her minister His heart to others.
Two days later, Debbie and I gave Leann and Carl their Christmas gifts. My gift to Leann was a clear 2” glass angel that I brought from KC (see pic). She gasped in surprise, “Do you know what this is!?” Honestly, I had no idea of the significance! She pointed out that the angel is holding a glass heart in its hands and reminded me of what had happened just 2 days before, with her Sacred Heart angel experience. Then I remembered. We were both amazed at how God is so good and so personal as He leads us into His world. He is so fun!!! - MLH
26. Stories to Inspire
In a recent post, I asked, “What did you do with 2020?” You’ll love what my friends have done with 2020.
We’ve all had our 2020 hardships, but in March a great friend of mine and his wife had to go to another country in order to get their visas renewed. Their home for the last several years has been in a foreign country where they serve as missionary pastors. But in the day or so that they were out of their home country, Covid restrictions shut everything down. They couldn’t re-cross the border to return home. Now they were stuck in a country where they don’t have any friends… and only a casual contact.
But the cool thing is that after nearly a year of being stuck, they currently have a boatload of God-stories… including housing, finances, connections, ministry, etc. Any normal human response to being trapped in a foreign country would likely be overwhelming discouragement and potentially ‘poisoning’ our future with murmuring and complaining. But true to their norm, they’ve been actively engaged in listening and responding to God… even in this foreign land… even despite covid.
BTW – Here’s the latest on their living accommodations: “We’re still stuck in ‘xxxxxxx’, and just got a major upgrade in our living situation. We’re apartment sitting. It’s a really nice place. Eighth floor, beautiful view, great location and reduced rent. It keeps on getting better!”
This next story is about a new area that God caused them to prosper. God loves to take what the devil means for evil and our destruction… but with our participation, God turns it around for our good!! This story is a great example of that.
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Prospering while trapped in another country
“I know everyone is sending you cool ‘traveling in the spirit’ testimonies, however, I want to tell you a cool Divine provision testimony.”
“Earlier last year I felt Papa was leading me into a new area of investing. My wife and I had some extra money in savings, which was new for me. As a single missionary guy living on faith for most of my adult life, I was used to having ‘just enough.’ I was always more than grateful for what I received because it was usually the result of some cool God story of how the money came to me. My wife and I began discussing what we should do with the extra money until we needed it.”
“I began praying, researching and felt I should look into investing in some companies on the New York Stock Exchange. I’ve been a Christian most of my life and growing up in the church I had never heard a message or read a book on investing. It was a little unnerving for me, but I remember working on a project in high school where we did some investing with imaginary money and I did quite well… and really enjoyed it. So this gave me some confidence.”
“In the winter of 2019, I had just finished reading Kris Vallotton’s book ‘Poverty, Riches and Wealth.’ I was really inspired by this book, especially by Jesus’ parable of the ten minas (Luke 19:11-27). I began feeling a ‘nudge’ and soft encouragement by Holy Spirit to look into investing. However, there was also the strong feeling to wait until Spring to invest. I did my homework, researched the companies that I wanted to invest in, learned how to invest and was ready to go.”
“But I kept feeling like I was to wait until Spring. I thought, “This must just be fear that’s stopping me from investing.” But the feeling wouldn’t go away. So I waited. Well, as you know, Covid took the world by storm in early March of 2020 and wiped out the stock market. It dropped big time! I knew this would be a golden opportunity, as I had faith to believe the stock market would come back. So, I began investing.”
“My initial goal was to make 10% on my investments for the year. I knew the bank would give me less than 3% and I had enough confidence that I could do better than that. The stock market had its ups and downs but ended up recovering throughout 2020. I had some disappointments and some victories. I learned many lessons, took prayerfully calculated risks and exceeded my yearly goal rather significantly. Like I said, my goal was to make 10%. Well, I ended up making almost 100%… or close to doubling my investment. I turned my ‘ten minas’ into another ‘ten minas.'”
“This is not a testimony of how “God made me rich,” nor am I saying if you follow God He’ll make you rich, nor am I saying that if you invest God will tell you what to invest in (at least He didn’t tell me). It’s a testimony of receiving a ‘nudge’, obeying the ‘nudge’, trusting God in a new arena, being faithful with what God has given you and then watching Him bring the multiplication.”
“It was a wild ride and so cool to succeed in a new arena with Papa. I’m a bit cautious about investing in the current market. But I’ll carefully and prayerfully move forward with investing if I feel that little ‘nudge’ again.” – DV
25. Stories to Inspire
Here’s a short story video that will likely melt your heart.
April 2, 2018 – Nearly 3 years ago, our then 14-month-old grandson Asher, was suddenly stricken with acute flaccid myelitis – an inflammation and swelling of the spinal cord. He had just taken a 2-hour nap and uncharacteristically woke up crying… without any apparent reason. After some homespun testing, John took him to the ER. That night was a long night.
Cheryl and I joined John and Asher early the next morning. After intensive research and extensive tests, the Drs knew what was wrong, they just didn’t know why… and the prognosis they gave us was pretty hopeless.
Despite knowing that this was a serious problem, we immediately reminded our hearts and minds of how our family lives in the favor of the Lord… proven by countless miracles of His goodness. We determined that we would NOT let our hearts be sucked down into a dark whirlpool of confusion, discouragement or despair. If every previous trial in our lives has ended up being an amazing trophy testimony, then why would this trial be any different!?! REALLY!!! This is the REAL stuff! If we’re in Christ, we must begin to believe His heart for us and anchor our emotions in this infallible truth.
John stayed in the hospital with Asher for 19 days. Cheryl traveled back and forth and took care of the other siblings. At about 19 days, Asher moved one finger 1/4″. Yay!!!! Our confidence was already unshakeable but that little 1/4″ movement was the ‘icing on the cake’. They dismissed him from the hospital saying that was all they could do for him. But that wasn’t to be the end of the story – THANK YOU, GOD!!!!
Since then, progress has been slow but very steady and remarkable.
Many people around the world have prayed for our little guy. This tender and innocent toddler has found his way into the hearts of countless caring folks. Nearly everywhere we go, someone asks how he’s doing. So, this short video is an overview of the last 3 years to tell the good news and give glory to our awesome God.
At this point, Asher has recovered most of the motor function and muscle skills in his arms, hands and fingers. His nerves have evidently established new pathways to transfer the impulses and his muscles have steadily rebuilt. There is no doubt that he’ll have as much normal function as any other boy within a year or so. Even now, it might be difficult for a stranger to notice that Asher ever had a problem.
Our hearts are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for His care for us the whole way through. He has helped us turn another test… into a test-imony! What we knew to be true about God nearly 3 years ago when things looked so bad, has carried us right into another one of a boatload of trophy God-stories that is power-packed to inspire others. He’s just that good!
The takeaway: Our God is so much better than we ever thought!! - MLH
Click here for a 5:30 mins video story
24. Stories to Inspire
It is my happy conviction that God has opened up a great ‘door’ of revelation to help transport us into our rightful and Biblical place ‘in the Heavenlies’… not merely as a theology, but as an experiential reality. Plenty could be said to validate that truth in Scripture… but I suggest that you read some of my past blog posts, here.
A new level of liberation is taking place. We are getting freed up from being merely ‘terra-firm-ites’… earthlings. Our greater reality is our Heavenly likeness, Heavenly location, Heavenly citizenship, etc. Check this out! Stupendous!
"See yourselves co-raised with Christ! Now ponder with persuasion the consequence of your co-inclusion in him. Relocate yourselves mentally! Engage your thoughts with throne room realities where you are co-seated with Christ in the executive authority of God’s right hand." – Col 3:1 Mirror Bible Translation
My confidence is that as we learn to “live and move and have our being” IN Him and IN the Heavenlies, we will find our 1) spirit man acknowledged and liberated… our 2) soul man inspired and empowered… and our 3) body experiencing super-natural things we never ever imagined… not to mention, being 4) more effective as men and women of God.
Just one of those avenues leading toward more effectiveness will be in prayer. As we find our place in the Heavens, we’ll not posture or perceive ourselves as weak plaintiff humans, but rather, as righteous and highly favored sons who are actually partnering with God in co-rulership. Think of it: not praying TO God… but WITH God.
Try it out sometime… like my good friend did. I’ll keep him anonymous in the following story.
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Father travels with Holy Spirit to pray for son
Recently I got a phone call from a very good and longtime friend. He’s heard some of the stories of our Ascended Life Community experiences.
Years ago, one of his adult sons separated himself from family and friends. Internal struggles led him to drug addiction, homelessness, and living on the street in his car. No phone, no address and a drifting lifestyle made it impossible to be contacted. So, the last time my friend was able to talk with his son was nearly 2 ½ years ago.
A few days ago, my friend’s heart was especially moved with compassion and tender care for his son. In prayer, he said, “I’m going to do that thing that Mark does where he goes with the Holy Spirit to the place where he is praying for… and then he prays in that place.” So, in prayer, my friend activated his mind and heart to go with Holy Spirit to his son. After engaging in this mode for a time, he fell asleep… and woke up later, without experiencing anything unusual.
But, a couple of days later he received a phone call and the operator asked if he would accept a collect call from his son. Of course, he said, “Yes.” My friend, his wife and their son had a cordial conversation. It was a relief to their hearts to hear in his voice that he was doing better than the last time they had talked with him.
I have followed this story with my friend and prayed into this story for many years. So, when he called to tell me the latest in his story, my tears quickly flowed. My father heart joined with his father-heart as we both rejoiced that they had at least talked… but we still felt the pain of his son’s separation and brokenness. Your prayers are appreciated.
BTW: He attributes the call from his son to a more effective way of praying for his son.
23. Stories to Inspire
God is opening up new territories for us to live in. These territories have always been available, and have always been in our Bibles but we haven’t had revelation to understand what we were reading.
I love Deut 29:29 which says that when God reveals something to us, it belongs to us and our children. It is ours! We own it and get to ‘walk in it’.
The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
Speaking of receiving revelation, consider John, The Revelator. He was just hanging out “in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day”. (Rev 1:10)
Parenthetical question: Which day is the Lord’s Day? Is it Sunday… or Saturday… or? But then, which day of the week is not the Lord’s Day? And what if John was actually ‘caught up’ to the Great Day of the Lord (in the future)? Would that change anything? Just something to think about…
In any case, John is in a state of ecstasy… he’s already “in the Spirit” and while in that state, Holy Spirit invites him to come on up, even higher (Rev 4:1). Ever wonder how many levels of “in the Spirit” there are?
Inarguably, being ‘in the Spirit’ was fertile ground for John to get ‘revelated’. I believe it’s safe to say that our best revelations occur when we’re ‘caught up’ in the Spirit.
So, if God’s dream for our inheritance is for us to co-rule with Him over these Heavenly territories while we’re still “in this life” (Rms 5:17), then we’re going to have to become familiar with what’s ‘above the line’… in the Spirit realm. So, let’s go!
In this story, Karen is acclimating her heart and mind in this direction… and gets pleasantly surprised with a “sweet” mission of wrapping people in blankets of love and healing.
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Come on up here!
“Late one night, I couldn’t sleep, so I asked the Lord what He would like for me to know. I heard him say, “Come on up here.””
“Using John 10:9, I went through Jesus, our Door. I was then given a weighted blanket that was weighted with love and healing. It was stuffed with the healing leaves from the trees that grow on either side of Ezekiel’s River (Eze 47:12). He then pointed out many, many people who were to receive these blankets. He gave me specific directions for each person (or couple) about how I was to wrap the blanket around them. It was so sweet and when we were finished, I fell asleep.”
“I feel like we’ve been given a lot of permission to use our Holy Spirit ‘golden’ imagination to see things we’ve never seen before in Heaven and to participate with Jesus in ministering to others.” – KD
22. Stories to Inspire
Jesus said there was an easy way to access the Heavenlies… through Him! He said, “Use Me as your Door to access Heaven.”
“I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” – Jn 10:9
I know, we normally use this verse as a ‘salvation verse’ – “In order to get saved you have to come through Jesus.” But, if salvation is the only application for this verse, what do we do with the last phrase – “and will go in and out and find pasture?” Surely, we’re not implying getting saved, unsaved and resaved, are we? Rather, I believe Jesus just gave us a blueprint verse for how to live ‘above the line in the Heavenlies.
You see, we have great theology about the Heavenlies… but we have very little personal experience in the Heavenlies. We know these familiar verses by heart.
“… and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” – Eph 2:6
“Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God…” – Col 3:1-3
As we follow Jesus’ invitation to use Him as the Door, the frontiers of our rich inheritance exponentially get opened up to us. Yay, we can experience more than a mere earthling experience! We are citizens of Heaven and the larger part of our being, is already CURRENTLY there. Jesus invites us to access the Heavenlies, explore it, become familiar with it and begin to possess our inheritance. So, for almost two years I’ve been facilitating hundreds of people ‘into Jesus’… and thus into the Heavenlies. And the very personal and powerful heart encounter stories melt my heart nearly every time.
This pic says it perfectly!!!!
Traveling in the Spirit is just one of the many frontiers available to us after we access the Heavens. And it’s a fun one. We’re not talking about some kind of astral projection or anything new age. We’re talking about the Biblical kind… the kind that Paul, Philip, Jesus, Elijah, John, etc, experienced. Obviously, we require ourselves to only follow Holy Spirit’s lead in these matters.
Jesus cautioned us:
“No one comes to the Father but by Me.” – Jn 14:6
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.” – Jn 10:1
With that securely etched in our minds and hearts, let’s full of faith, enter another part of our ‘Promised Land’. Got it!
Now, the following is one of my personal experiences.
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Spirit travel 500 miles to pray for my buddy Paul
Setup: I had been reading about, praying into and exercising in traveling in the Spirit for some time. Obviously, it’s in the Bible. And I’d already had several experiences.
Prompted, I emailed my friends Paul & Donna, in WI to see how they were doing. She texted back apprising me of Paul’s health. What I didn’t know was that his infected replacement heart valve had caused severe sepsis in his body. He’d been on 4 strong antibiotics, lost 50 pounds and been under quarantined medical care for 6 weeks. She finished by saying, “Thank you for praying. Paul is quite discouraged today. Maybe you can go visit him in room 51.”
I thought, “Hmmm, she probably thinks that I’m in WI.” So I said, “I wish I could. I’m in Kansas City. Please give him my love and care!!!” She replied, “Ha-ha, I meant in the Spirit.” Finding it hard to believe that I didn’t ‘pick up’ on this, I responded, “I should have caught that!!!! Sorry, I will do that right now!!!” My sense was that this was Holy Spirit’s way of prompting me to activate into my new frontier.
I immediately went up to my bedroom, stilled my mind, activated my golden (Holy Spirit inspired) imagination and ‘took off’. Within seconds I ‘flew’ 500 miles to WI, came down to the medical facility, in the front door, down the hallway, into Rm 51, placed my hand over Paul’s heart and made a few declarations over him. All of that came from my own initiation and activation of my mind into a position that I felt Holy Spirit had prompted me to do.
But I did not initiate what happened next! A bright white Light flooded Paul’s room. It was the very white ‘solid’ Light… so ‘thick’ you couldn’t see through it. It would be like standing immersed in a large vat of white milk. Goosebumps ran down my arm, literally. But then I wondered what I supposed to do with the light. But before I could even fully think that question, I knew what to do… I was supposed to take all the Light and impart it into his body through my arm and hand. But before I could even think that thought in my mind, it happened! And then I felt another wave of goosebumps down my arm.
Surprised, I said to myself, “Wow, I think something just happened!” (O man of faith that I am 😁) So I made a few more declarations over Paul and ‘backed out’ of the experience. I then text Donna and told her that I had visited and prayed for Paul.
A couple days later I text Donna to ask about Paul. She replied, “After you prayed for him, he had a breakthrough and decided to take one day at a time and not worry about the future. He has been doing much better emotionally since then. Thank you.”
A couple weeks later Paul was back home. I texted and asked if he’d like to talk on the phone… and soon he was telling me his story. I asked him if I could tell him my side of the story. And so I told him what I’ve just told you.
He was slow to respond and said, “That really touches my heart. The hardest part wasn’t even the physical ordeal, it was that from the time that I was under medical care, I couldn’t hear the voice of God. And you know how much I love to hear His voice… and that I even teach about how to hear His voice. But Donna said you called… and the next day I began to hear again. I’m home now, off all meds and gaining my strength back.”
About a month later, I called Paul again. He was still gaining his strength back and steadily getting better. And as you might imagine, our conversations are getting more Heavenly each time we connect.
Thank our wonderful God for miracles of several different kinds. - MLH
Update: That was 3 1/2 years ago. Paul and I connect weekly and he is going strong
21. Stories to Inspire
Recently, my friend Brian in Redding, CA told me of a story that happened to him a few years ago. In their home group they had traveled in the Spirit and set captive persecuted Christians free… only to see the evidence of it in the US news a few days later. That’s the kind of results we expect to see as we mature in co-ruling and co-legislating with God.
Up till a few years ago, our plaintiff petition prayers have been our only option, when we’re asking for God to do something about a problem on earth. And it’s been the best option that we had… taking into consideration the level of revelation that we had at the time. But now we realize that our Heavenly citizenship avails us much more latitude of movement in the Spirit realm… and much more effectiveness and results. This frontier is a game-changer. It’s becoming apparent that Christian life has so many more options for growth, expansion, effectiveness and governance, etc. Exciting!
What a God!!!
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Christian prisoners sprung out of Burmese prison
“Several years ago, I was mentally transported to another location on the earth while we were in a time of prayer and worship in a homegroup that my wife and I hosted. I found myself in a prison where persecuted Christians were having a glorious worship experience from cell to cell.”
“The images were coming from that ‘God place’ of my mind that I was learning to become familiar with. I saw myself riding on the back of an angel through the prison corridors opening the prison doors and setting the captives free. I began narrating what I was seeing, play-by-play, to the attendees in our homegroup. A few of the people in the room began speaking in tongues with a distinct, Chinese sounding-dialect that one of the attendees said sounded like Burmese.”
“After this unusual 30–40-minute encounter, we opened up a map and felt like we had been transported into a prison in Burma. The reason we chose Burma is that one of the girls in our group had recently been there, and as I described what I saw, she felt and discerned that I was in a Burmese prison. Everything was so random and spontaneous that one could have easily brushed the entire scenario off as conjured, fake and even childish.”
“But, to our amazement, a few days later, major network news announced that Hillary Clinton had just returned from Burma where she was negotiating for the release of “political prisoners”. In Burma, the term “political prisoners” can also include Christians. You can view Hillary’s Jan 13, 2012 statement in the Treaty Room of the State Department online.” – BN
https://www.c-span.org/video/?303689-2/secretary-clinton-statement-burma-treaty
Excerpt adapted from Brian Nickens’ book entitled: ‘Hunger Driven – Overcoming Fear and Skepticism of Supernatural Christianity’. Used by permission.
20. Stories to Inspire
Sometimes life bursts in really suddenly. And it would like to rob our joy, our peace and our life. We have to make a decision then; whether life is going to rule us… or if we’re going to rule over life. This requires that we have trained our hearts to be anchored in the goodness and love of God. This is something we can do… and must do… in order to not be robbed of thriving in life.
But then, sometimes God breaks through and injects a dose of faith that eclipses the strain and stress of circumstances. That’s what happened to our son John and daughter-in-love Cheryl, recently. When life rudely invaded the sanctity of their home and family, they chose to stay in faith… but then God went ‘over the top’ with an encounter whose effect will thankfully empower them for a long time.
God is just so Good that way, you know! He’s the best!
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Bullet holes - A gun, angels and time travel
“Eight gunshots rang out in rapid succession in the stillness of the night… all of them aimed at our house. They had been shot from a dark-colored Tahoe/type SUV moving slowly through our normally very peaceful neighborhood. By the third shot, I yelled, “Get down! It’s gunfire!” And almost by protective instinct, Cheryl dropped to the living room floor to lay over our sleeping 4-year-old nephew. But even though one of the bullets passed through our front metal door and tiled bathtub wall, none of the slugs did serious damage to the house and more importantly, none of the 2 adults and 5 children inside the house were injured. Just perchance, one neighbor actually witnessed the whole scenario. Within seconds, so many neighbors called 911 that it jammed the answering service for a while. We quickly reviewed our security cameras and were able to slow-mo many details of the ordeal. The police arrived shortly after calling, put up crime scene tape around the area and did their best to piece together what had just happened and gather tips as to who would have done it and why it happened. Several theories are swirling around, but nothing solid… yet!”
“Now the good news: Five of the eight shots hit the concrete driveway and/or concrete steps before they hit our house… thus slowing them down and redirecting them (one actually ricocheted off of our house and sadly, entered our neighbor’s house). We found two of the slugs inside our house and 4 or 5 shell casings in the street which is enough to know that the weapon was a 45-caliber pistol. We’re hopeful that the casings may yield more intel.”
“To be honest, fear was banging loudly at our mind’s door. It wanted to take up residence and would have gladly terrorized us for who knows how long into the future. But we determined to not let fear take us down into its dark swirl. Fear wants to imprison you by painting the worst possible scenario in your mind, such as: All it would have taken is a slight turning of the muzzle of that pistol and the trajectories of those shots could have altered our lives forever – literally. BUT we were determined to stay in faith… faith that comes from knowing that our God is exponentially greater than the evil one… and He had protected us from mortal injury or casualty… or even any major damage to the house. God spared our lives!”
“Even so, we half-seriously asked the question what would it be like to go back in time, in the Spirit realm, and change the events surrounding the perpetrator? Could that be possible and what would that look like?”
“Well, the next day Cheryl found herself a grateful recipient of a professional foot massage.”
Cheryl: “Without any mental initiation on my part, when the soft music began to play, Holy Spirit led me back to the time of the shooting… only now, I was standing outside the passenger door of the SUV, looking into its interior. This experience was very real. I watched the driver reach over to pick up his gun. I watched as he aimed toward our home and squeezed the trigger. I followed the first bullet shot toward our home in slow-motion, while the others flew beside me in my peripheral vision. But then, just as this first bullet made contact, I realized the wall was total ‘white’ and I found myself zooming back out to confirm what I was seeing. It was confusing at first… but as I zoomed out from the house, I saw that the white was actually a white dome over our whole house. What I was viewing was still a mystery, until I realized that the white dome was actually the backs of mighty angels who had surrounded our house and were huddled shoulder to shoulder, leaning in and bending over our house. As the scene developed, the huge angels began to raise up, stand up straight and turn around to face me with arms crossed in front of their chests… as if to say they had faithfully fulfilled their job of protecting the occupants of the house.”
“This scenario was wonderfully impacting and totally overwhelming for me. It was all I could do, while on the massage chair, to hold back sobs of joy, wonder and gratefulness. Fortunately, there was a towel over my face which covered my tears. I’m sure the masseur would have been confused had he known what I was really experiencing. It took me some time to process what I had just witnessed… and how poignant its true meaning was to our whole family the night before. Powerful angels had literally spared our lives. The Lord let me see from His vantage point, which did more for obliterating fear than any amount of counseling could ever do. I am now more fear-free than at any other time of my life. Thank God!!”
“As we began processing different elements of Cheryl’s experience, we remembered that two and a half years ago, our son Eli saw an angel in our backyard, “As tall as the house!” Remembering this, increased our faith even more!”
“We have great relationships with everyone in our cul-de-sac… and this ordeal has instantly and easily given us new emotional and spiritual inroads to every person. We get to tell them how God fights for us to protect all that concerns us and His will for our lives… and that we are not at all fearful despite what the circumstances would like to dictate. Most get it… sort of… because they’ve heard our previous conversations about our Good God.”
“So, is it possible to go back in time? Yes!!! And God can do it in such a way that makes it more real than even the physical realm. There is another dimension… a Heavenly dimension, at work around us. Just makes us want to become familiar with the Spirit realm more than ever! God is such a GREAT God!”
“A few weeks before the incident, we posted a video clip of our son Asher, declaring the power of God. In hindsight, this clip feels quite prophetic.” – JH & CH
He shall hide thee under His feathers, He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.
Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. – Ps 91:4-12
19. Stories to Inspire
The Spirit realm is big! And Holy Spirit is even bigger. And He’s a great leader: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth” (Jn 16:13). This makes for exhilarating vistas expanding out in all directions.
Who knew that our effectiveness wasn’t limited to just our earthly physicality? Our belief system used to limit our effectiveness to only what we could do while in our physical body. But what happens when we get liberated from the confines of this body into the expansiveness of Holy Spirit’s realms!? What happens when we are untethered from the natural laws of physics and find ourselves able to travel and function with Holy Spirit wherever He goes? I tell you what happens! Christian life just takes a quantum leap into “life and life more abundantly”! Thank you, Jesus, for that quote!
Brian Nickens found himself in a Holy Spirit assignment, partnering with an angel to set the stage for a God-encounter for his whole group. So cool! More, Lord!
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A clean sweep and all Heaven breaks loose
“On a Monday night I was lying in bed reading a book by Praying Medic entitled, ‘Traveling in the Spirit Made Simple’. I fell asleep but really ‘fell’ into the Spirit realm. I found myself in the upper room of the church where I was going to teach a bible class the very next evening.”
“I was aware that there was a dark cloud or haze in the room. An angel in the corner instructed me to remove the haze. We were both hovering above the floor. The angel further instructed me to use hand motions to ‘sweep’ the haze (which was fear, doubt and shame, etc) into the center of the room. The haze responded to my ‘sweeping’ motions and collected in the middle of the room in the form of a ball.”
“The angel then instructed me to remove the ball of haze from the room. It was now like a balloon floating about 3 feet off the ground. As the angel ‘stood’ behind me, I pushed the ball out into the hall, down the stairwell and passed the security. As I opened the front door and pushed it out the entrance of the church building, it got sucked out into the atmosphere. The angel then said to go back to the upper room and release joy, peace, love, and the power of God in the room. So back in the room, I began joyfully spinning and releasing just as I was instructed.”
“When the encounter ended, I found myself back in my bedroom covered in sweat.”
“The next night when a first-time visitor from Jamaica walked into the bible study… she raised her fist in the air, shouted “Glory! The Presence of God is in the room!” As more people arrived, they seemed to automatically get ushered into an unusual encounter with God. For the next 30-40 minutes, people were overcome with the power of God and were beside themselves with various manifestations. This lasted about 40 minutes. Word got out around the building that “God was in the room” and other people in the building, including security, came to join in the experience.”
“When the unusual encounter finally subsided, I recounted to those in the room what had happened with me the night before. With Holy Spirit’s leadership and an angel’s assistance, I had cleaned the room, and released the powerful Presence of God to usher us all into a Heavenly experience that we’ll not easily forget.” – BN
18. Stories to Inspire
Heaven is getting so much more real… and so much more NOW… and so much more accessible!
I’ve recently been listening to and reading so many fresh things that it’s almost overwhelming to think of the limitless possibilities available to us as we learn to live in the “Heavenly places” (Eph 2:6). I feel like I’m having to ‘gear-up’ to play ‘catch-up’. It’s so much fun!
As you know, one of the areas we’ve been exploring is the idea of engaging all of Heaven’s resources which our awesome Father has made available to us. Angels, saints… and other entities that we won’t go into right now. I mean, if Heb 12 says, “We HAVE come to this mountain” full of various Heavenly hosts, then I believe that it’s only natural to believe that we can and should have access to these hosts, as rich assets for growing into our full New Creation identity in Christ. O boy! That’s feel like a boost of nitro! 😊
In a recent gathering, we applied ourselves to enter the “Heavenly places”. A very dear friend had a very impacting encounter which touched her deeply and answered a troubling need in her heart. I think you’ll be encouraged as you hear her story.
For more regarding engaging with the cloud of witnesses, try these passages: Heb 11:39-40, Heb 12:1; 22-23, Lk 9:30-31; Acts 1:10-11; Gen 18:2, etc
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Encouragement from the cloud of witnesses
“Recently, we were going ‘up to heaven’ as a group. I heard Mark talk about all of us being in the Throne room with the Father and Jesus. At that moment I felt the warm feeling of friendship and fellowship among us all as we gathered and experienced such enjoyment being in the presence of Father and Jesus!”
“At one point, I “happened” to look between some people in our group and beyond them into the Throne room, and saw my Aunt and Uncle who had passed away years ago. She was waving wildly and had the biggest smile. When they saw me looking, they started dancing! It was like they were serenading me with the kinds of dances that make you laugh… and at one point they did a dance train like we do in worship sometimes. I was vaguely aware of two other uncles or family members joining them. After that, my aunt was suddenly beside me - loving on me. Although there were no words between us, when she looked into my eyes, the exchange in the spirit left me feeling strengthened and encouraged.”
“In their earthly lives, my aunt and three of my uncles were confined to a wheelchair because they had muscular dystrophy (a degenerative disease for which there is no cure). I had given them personal care for many years.”
“This encounter was very special because I had recently been fighting through a period of pretty deep depression. I couldn’t hear or feel God like I was used to, which frankly, had been frightening for me. This experience was especially dear to me because God’s tender presence… and my heightened spiritual awareness… and Heaven’s powerful realities… all became so real. Thank you, God, for Your very personal way of touching and healing my heart!” - EM
PS If you are interested in more on the theme of New Creation living in the Heavenly places, here are a couple of videos you might like.
‘Uninterrupted Union’ - Interview between Liz Wright and JPA (26 mins)
https://youtu.be/tpn4-5WApaw
‘Wisdom & the Realm of Light’ - Podcast by JPA (45 mins)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzqfjygA-WY&t=1449s
17. Stories to Inspire
God’s mandate for mankind to “rule” has never changed… even after The Fall. Gen 1:26;
“Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule…”
To do this, we have many tools at our disposal. Jesus refers to one of them in Matt 10:13;
“If the home is worthy, let your peace rest on it; but if it is not, let your peace return to you.”
We actually have the ability to “leave our peace” or in effect, we’re extending our peace over them. This is an interesting concept. Think of Peter’s shadow healing people. Evidently, we have the ability to bring people into wholeness even if we don’t know it.
So can we do it intentionally? Well, I think that is what Jesus was referring to… leave your peace over them.
When Earl’s hands were tied to do anything about the disruptive kids on his bus, expanding the peace of his own spirit over them was very effective.
Thank God for all the tools He gives us to bring our world into righteousness.
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Expand your spirit
“I recently started to drive a school bus in my local community. On my route, I have some very broken children riding the bus. There are four children at one stop that, unfortunately, have been abandoned by their father and are being raised by their grandmother. The grandmother is sweet but unable to provide the proper discipline for the boys.”
“When they get on the bus in the afternoon, they are full of energy and mischief after sitting in class all day.”
“Before they even get on the bus they are arguing, pushing and shoving each other. So my attention is not on my driving as it should be because I have to keep trying to settle them down and not disturb the other children on the bus.”
“After hearing of Mark's sister's testimony of expanding her spirit over a difficult situation, I decided to give it a try. I have to admit, I did not understand the concept, but would give it a try.”
“Well, guess what, it worked. Three times I have extended my spirit back over the bus and within minutes the four boys have settled down and were quiet the rest of the trip.”
“My former paradigm would have been to bind the evil spirits and pray God's peace over the bus. This is much easier. Bless the Lord...” - EA
16. Stories to Inspire
God cannot be contained in time nor limited by time. God is bigger than time because He made time! He’s the God who can answer before we even call (Isa 65:24; Matt 6:8). And since in the Spirit realm there are no space or time limitations, then it's well within His capability to re-do or rewrite something in our past – and thereby set things in motion to change our future for the better.
Well, a good friend who wants to remain anonymous, had an unusual encounter along these lines. Her story below serves to enlarge our faith that God is bigger and more unlimited than we imagined. AND the cool part is that He wants to take US into these unlimited spheres with Him.
He’s freeing us up from being “mere humans”. He’s untethering us from earth-bound-ness as we learn to ascend... and He's introducing us to the expansiveness of the non-time and non-localized realities of the Heavenlies.
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Rewrite the script
“Many years ago, when I was pregnant, I took a prescription drug for morning sickness. It was discovered years later that this drug caused birth defects and serious health complications to the unborn babies. When my daughter was just three, she had to have reconstructive organ surgery.
“Shortly after she was married, she and her husband wanted to have children. Earlier, doctors had discovered a congenital heart valve prolapse, so they decided to do a battery of tests to evaluate her health for pregnancy. For approximately a week, she wore attached wired sensor pads and a monitor under her clothing to track her heart health.
“One day during that time, quite by surprise, I was overtaken by the Lord. In the Spirit, He escorted me back to some of my daughter’s early childhood experiences where I had not responded well to her. One-by-one I relived each occasion. Instead of having the response I had at that time, I ‘REWROTE THE SCRIPT’! In each instance, I responded with compassion for her and the appropriate wisdom that met her where she was as a tender-hearted little girl.
“The encounter was uninitiated on my part, yet a very impacting, detailed and vivid experience for me. I full-heartedly embraced what the Lord was doing through me, for my daughter. Later, the Lord helped me understand that each of these occasions was a strongly impacting time where fear of surroundings, fear of rejection and fear of lack - found their way into her soul and even eventually compounded the severity of her congenital challenges.
“Well, after the tests were completed, my daughter called and reported, ‘Mom, the doctors say that the issues that they had seen with my heart, ARE NOT THERE ANYMORE!’”
“Thank God! I believe He took me back in time… so that I could REWRITE THE SCRIPT and change the future. Isaiah 57:15 says God inhabits eternity – and time. By rewriting what happened in her past, it healed her heart in the present. The lives of my daughter and grandchildren are living proof that God is bigger than time and He is not limited by time or our past. He can work within it, or outside of it. There’s no difference for Him... or for us... if we can just believe it."
"That was nearly 12 years ago. My daughter and son-in-law now have two amazing naturally-born children. Thank God for His love and goodness.” – JS
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Along these same lines you may enjoy listening to a 22-minute audio of Liz Wright tell a personal story of how God took her back 500 years to “restore history” in a specific situation with Queen Catherine of Aragon. When Liz had her first of two encounters in this experience, she was not familiar with the injustice done to Queen Catherine. I think you’ll find the story fascinating.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2xpdmV5b3VyYmVzdGxpZmVwb2QubGlic3luLmNvbS9yc3M/episode/YTA2MDA5NWItOTlhMy00YTUxLWE4MTgtMTQwMmE3ODU2NDNm
15. Stories to Inspire
We’ve been researching the idea of involvement with the ‘cloud of witnesses’. Convincing current testimonies and newly revealed Scriptures shine new light on this once taboo topic.
Interesting insight: All those who are in Christ and have passed through the grave, are not dead… they have been experiencing everlasting life from the moment they gave their hearts to the Lord.
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Leroy acknowledged my greeting
This week a very dear friend of mine Leroy, passed on into his eternal reward. He ran a trophy filled race and is now receiving his reward --- Jesus, face to face! And He's in the great cloud of witnesses now. Wow!!!
Within a few hours of his passing, I sent the following text to a close mutual friend.
“Awww. My buddies... Leroy & Jesus. I feel lots of love for Leroy. He’s in the great cloud of witnesses now. If you have time to look this way Leroy, Hi!!! Sending you my love.”
Well, something unexpected happened less than 30 mins after I sent that text. I was out running and met a man on a bike. He rode past me, shortly turned around, came back and stopped to talk with me. Unusual! So, I stopped to engage with him. He was the nicest cheerful and chatty 69-year-old man. I asked his name and he said, “Roy!” Before we parted, I asked if I could pray for him. He agreed and soon we parted ways.
I began walking away and then remembered that just minutes before, I had solicited Leroy’s attention and conveyed my love. Well, here’s something interesting: Many times, I called Leroy, ‘La Roy’ which means ‘the king’ (roy means king). What are the chances that the very next person I meet in this world, after I just greeted Leroy… is named Roy?
I quickly turned and watched the bicyclist ride away. He was already out of earshot. I wanted to call him back because it just dawned on me, “La Roy, you just came to check in with me, didn’t you? Wow! Love ya, my buddy! Thanks!” - MLH
14. Stories to Inspire
A very good friend of many of us, entered his eternal reward in January this year. Daryl Billings was a mentor, father, pioneer, worshiper, pray-er, evangelist and model to many people over his years. His appearance in Josh’s dream should come as no surprise. The cloud of witnesses interact with us so that they and we can be made perfect together (Heb 11:40). (Notice that both Gen 18:1-2, and Acts 1:10-11 describe Heavenly men as dressed in white robes.)
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Dreaming with Daryl
“Recently, in a dream, I was standing on the shore of a beautiful mountain lake. Across the lake, I noticed a man in a white robe walking toward me on the water. As he approached, I recognized him as Daryl Billings, a friend who had passed on a few months ago. He walked right up to me, and almost as if he were hovering in midair, spoke to me, "If you want to see heaven come to earth, you have to open the floodgates of your soul."
“We sat down on the shore near there and he began to unfold all the "Seeds of the Spirit" that had been perverted by man - naturalism, reincarnation, spiritualism, buddhism, etc. He said, the Holy Spirit wanted to reveal to man, the mysteries of God, but man shut the soul gates / floodgates to Heavenly perceptions… and followed after their own understanding.
He explained how the church has resisted the pursuit of Godly mysteries for fear of dabbling in occult practices. Daryl reassured me which seeds were from God Himself. This was a profound revelation.”
“I was reminded of Jesus' words: "If the eye is single, the body is flooded with light." (Matt 6:22)
“Open the floodgates!” – JC
13. Stories to Inspire
Josh's remarkable improvements were predicated by actually ascending to the Throne and receiving healing from the Source. Earthbound beggar praying is what we all used to do... but confident Heavenly receiving is so much more effective.
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Contending for healing through ascending
"A couple of weeks ago, my wife and I enjoyed some white-water rafting while on vacation in Colorado. During an intense leg of the rafting trip, we plummeted over a seven-foot waterfall and ricocheted off a large rock. The impact catapulted me back, over the side of the raft. I dug in with my right foot and managed to stay on board; however, I hyper-extended my knee and felt it pop several times, as I held on. When we got out at the end of the trek, I wasn't able to put pressure on my right leg without extreme pain."
"In the midst of lots of pain, we picked up a knee brace at a local pharmacy and continued our vacation. I called my friend, Mark and asked him to pray with me for healing. His immediate response was for us to ascend to the Throne. I closed my eyes, expanded my spirit, and quickly found myself sitting on the lap of Jesus atop His Throne in Heaven. I looked down over the edge of the throne, and it looked like a long way down. I slipped off His lap and began to walk around His Throne. Physically, I stood up, removed the brace, and started walking around outside our B&B. My knee was completely healed in a matter of seconds! I began to jump up and down! I walked back to our room, rejoicing with Mark who was still on the phone. When I hung up, I told my wife what just happened, and she rejoiced with me."
"That evening, we walked all over downtown Glenwood Springs and ate at a rooftop restaurant. When I got up from the table, I almost collapsed and again was unable to put pressure on my leg. I was very confused. It was a long and painful walk back to the car. That night, I couldn't sleep, got up several times, praying/speaking over my knee. The next morning, we discussed the option of cutting our vacation short and returning home. We both felt the disappointment of our predicament. I suggested we ascend together and receive strength in my body. That's just what we did! Immediately, Jesus flooded my body with Light & Life, and I was able to walk again with significantly less pain. We didn't have to return home, but rather, continued our vacation throughout Utah and Colorado, hiking and walking all over! We are now back home and feeling great! Thank God!" - JC
12. Stories to Inspire
I’m exploring Spirit travel and time travel… Think of it, in the Spirit realm there is no time or distance. And in the Spirit realm is where we're "seated", "hidden", "raised", etc. So, I'm looking for Spirit-led ways to travel in the Spirit and engage with time travel.
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Moving ahead in time
"I was out prayer walking early one recent Sun morn... ascending... traveling. Felt to go ahead in time to my sister Leann & bro-in-law Carl’s Sunday church meeting that was to take place later that morning at The Well of Nashville. I stood in the middle of their congregation and spoke breakthrough, glory and fresh strength/energy. (Many of them had been a part of a large funeral in that building the day before.) As I was doing that, the Greek word 'energeo' came to mind... means "to put forth power". As I was declaring energeo over them, I looked down and less a 12" away from my feet there was a 5-HOUR ENERGY drink bottle. Bingo! Confirmation!!! Fun!!!"
"I text them what I experienced." - MLH
Leann replied later...
“When we met together later that morn we shared your word in the service. No, we didn't see you, but I spoke to you and we all welcomed you to our gathering with laughter and excitement. 😊 Awesome morning !!! Thanks for the ‘visit’ and the releasing of Father's heart for us!”
Jerry texted later:
“I was watching at the beginning of the meeting and there was a glory cloud on the place. That first song, the new one Leann has just written wrecked me! I could hardly see the road.”
11. Stories to Inspire
You know the drill.... Testimonies say, "It can happen again... this time to ME!"
We’re having an amazing time leading people in 'ascensions'... it’s SO good. Many first-time experiences with Father and lots of ‘Jesus-tears’. Makes it all more than worth it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To me, it just seems that Heaven’s opening up another way to access the heart and mind of God and the realm of Heaven. As we ‘ascend’ more frequently, I believe we’ll find that it gets easier, becomes more normal… and we’ll spend much more time consciously aware our Heavenly reality than the earthly reality (Jn 3:12-13)… of our Heavenly ‘real estate’ than our earthly real estate. And I’m betting that once we get ‘untethered’ from this world the options are limitless!!!
Think: Before the 80s very few people believed that the prophetic ministry was available to everyone… and that everyone could prophesy. But now that is a common norm in many sectors of the body of Christ. God is opening up more new avenues into His heart because He wants us to ‘be where He is’.
Ascension facilitates us being where He is.
Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me… - Jn 17:24
In this story it’s obvious that Ashley experienced Jesus’ glory and Father’s glory. It made a most unforgettable impact on her heart and mind. Maybe that is what Jesus was going after when He prayed the above prayer. 😊
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After years of prophecies, Ashley believes her personal value when Jesus Himself told her
“I had never experienced an ascension before. When I closed my eyes and went into the Heavenly realm, I saw a very bright light, the kind where you have to squint your eyes. As the light got closer to me, I could see that it was the Star of David. Immediately after I recognized that, I heard stadium lights being turned on. All the lights were shining ridiculously bright… on me! There Jesus was next to me, just staring and smiling with SO MUCH PRIDE and looking at me like, “I created you, I made you!” I completely lost it and was crying and actually laughing… so many emotions.”
“I’ve struggled with so many insecurities and poor self-image. I’ve tried to believe that I am His favorite! For the past 11 years, He’s used numerous people to give me words or prophesies about me being His favorite. And although my head knew that He feels that way towards me, I’ve struggled to fully believe it! I HAVE to believe it NOW!!! He told me so!!” - AS
10. Stories to Inspire
The stories that accompany EVERY time we enter an group activation to ascend into Heaven's Throne room, are so deep and heart-felt. The stories are always accompanied with passion, tenderness and wonderment. Those eternal moments are a HUGE part of the validation that anyone would need to prove whether they're real or not. The persons who have the experiences will NEVER be the same. Their hearts have been indelibly written upon by the most gentle and yet deeply impacting encounter with the One who knows them best and loves them most.
Sylvia is a seasoned believer and this was one of her first ascension encounters. She will never forget this simple but powerful experience.
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In an ascension, Sylvia fell deeper in love with the One who loves her most
“I’ve never had such an impacting or heart wrenching experience like this before. I walked into an area of extreme brightness and immediately felt such a sweet presence of the Lord. As I looked ahead of me there was the presence of Jesus, then I looked to the left and saw the face of my Heavenly Father. When He looked at me, He smiled so big. I could see his pleasure for me beaming from his face. Then His hand reached out to me and I couldn't stop kissing it, knowing it was the hand of the One who loved me most. I was touched so deeply that tears flowed freely.”
“I have never seen God’s face with such pleasure for me… or kissed that beautiful hand. I'm crying again, as I write this account. It has surely taken me to a deeper place with my Lord.” - SA
9. Stories to Inspire
Our awesome Lord is opening up more and more Heavenly territory for us to possess. Can we really believe Jesus, when He said, “Fear not my little flock, for it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom”. Wonder how much faith we have to possess our land? I imagine that your faith is growing exponentially like mine.
More, Lord!!!
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Brand new experience that Vicky will never forget
“I’ve never had an experience like this before. During an ‘ascension’ meeting with Mark at the Wilderness Prayer Center, I focused my mind on going to Heaven. I had a slight physical sensation of going up… and saw that I was approaching the Throne… and then Jesus came to meet me. I didn’t see any facial features but just ‘knew’ that it was Jesus. The feeling of love and acceptance and being completely cared for, was the main way that I identified Him."
"The ‘meeting’ was very short because as I drew near to Him, I saw and felt something coming from Jesus like liquid love pouring over me and inside of me. I could actually feel it go through me. Then it seemed to change and it became a waterfall pouring over me, cleansing me completely."
"It was a simple encounter but very powerful, refreshing and ‘filled my tank’ because I felt so valued that He would meet with me and pour His love in me. I will never forget this significant ‘building block’ in my relationship with Jesus.” – VN
8. Stories to Inspire
God is expanding the scope of possibilities that are available to us. Just think of how cool it would be to have the ministry of showing up in people's dreams to minister to them... which then becomes a part of the sovereign handiwork of God in their lives. You don't even have to leave your bed!!! :-) Actually, this sounds like a God-thing... because there's no 'sweat' involved. He gets all the glory because it didn't happen by the strength or cunning of a man.
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Earl appeared in a man’s dream which led to marriage restoration
“I was sitting in my office, when a local denominational pastor walked in. We knew each other, but were not close friends. He sat down and in tears shared that his marriage was having difficulties and asked if we could help him.”
“Before I could answer him, he said, “I had a dream last night and, in the dream, I saw this large white cloud. As I observed the cloud, you and your wife walked out of the cloud and into our lives and brought healing to our marriage.” Still in tears he said, "I believe I am supposed to submit to you for counseling." We met with them and were able to bring healing to the relationship.”
“Later, when he received an assignment to go to another church across the state, I asked if I could pray over him and send him out with the blessings of the Lord. He agreed. As I was praying for him, I could hear that he was talking… and then I realized he was praying in tongues… very unusual for his denomination. What a beautiful send off.”
“When we showed up in this man’s dream, it created an amazing miracle of courage, empowering him to move past any internal resistance he must have encountered… which led him to a restored marriage. To God be the glory!” – EA
7. Stories to Inspire
So are these new Heavenly frontiers only for the seasoned saints... or can children experience this too?
Our close friends Craig and Linda Dinsmore, have hosted a house church with nearly a dozen children for 2 or 3 years. They have developed a method that works great with helping kids to engage with Heavenly experiences. In fact, Craig has developed a simple booklet which explains how they facilitate their gatherings and shares a few noteworthy stories from those times.
If you'd like more info, email Craig at: craig@divinedesign.consulting
So recently, we had an evening with a three families... a total of six children present. It went very well.
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Train ‘em up in the ways they should go
One night in our home, three families rallied for dinner and an ‘ascension’. We placed blankets on the floor to create a personal space for each child. Then as we all ascended, we asked the children to draw what they saw or experienced. Afterwards, everyone shared their experience and we had the children describe their drawings. Everyone had some special theme and experience. Near the end, our youngest little guy Asher, excitedly asked, “Can we do that again?”
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In a more recent experience, I was in a small church meeting with a few adults who I knew very well. I had planned to present some more advanced 'above the line' subjects that evening.
But shortly after the meeting began, 3 adults and 12 young children walked into our meeting. I had never met any of them before... and they had not been exposed to any of our 'above the line' topics. So the question is: What am I going to do now? Either bore the children with advanced subjects... or take everyone down to the children's level and meet the children where they were. I think Jesus may have done something like the latter... ya think!?
I ask the host for some clear office papers and pencils and pens. We sat all children on the floor with their own blank papers out in front of each of them. I then explained John 10:9... where Jesus invites us to come through the Door into Him. We then initiated an activation with everyone in the room and invited the children to draw what they saw or experienced.
All the children drew something. After the activation, we interviewed each child, asked them to describe and explain their drawing and then we celebrated each child by praying or prophesying over them.
It was the perfect design of the Lord to highlight the children for the evening, because this took the focus off of the adults and so that they could have their own experience without feeling pressured. By the end of the meeting most everyone in the room had very special experiences that some refer to, even to this day.
So, not only are children worth the attention and worthy of being celebrated, but sometimes focusing on them is a key that the Lord can use to access the adults. - MLH
6. Stories to Inspire
In late 2019, someone who had never met me before, had an unusual dream with me in it. A couple nights after the lady's dream, she and I happened to be in the same meeting where I was the guest speaker. As I began to share, I noticed tears flowing down this lady’s cheeks. I ask her what was happening. She said, “You came to me in my dream two nights ago and told me everything that you’re saying now.” There’s more interesting details to this story. But since then, I’ve been asking God to give greater grace to minister to people in their dreams.
Well, I told this story during our Zoom meeting with our friends' church in Northern Russia… and in this first story we see that this grace for showing up in people's dreams, was ‘transferred’ to a lady in Northern Russia. Fun!! That’s the power of a testimony! Thank you, God!
To view this Zoom with the group in Norther Russia, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgLQPKlGndU Then go to 3 hr 00 min through 3:17 – for about 17 minutes of Pentecost New Wine fun stuff - laughter, etc. I lost my translator - Zhenya got whacked! I hate that when it happens :-). What was I going to do???? Just push on... and since the people don’t know English, then I just prayed in tongues and said, “More, Lord!” But then it ‘snuck up’ on me!! I hadn't gotten ‘whacked’ that much for a very long time. So much fun. Then testimonies began. I was supposed to speak about 30-40 minutes… but things got carried away… they had me on for 2 ½ hrs.
The following is a really cool God-story from David & Zhenya (pastors of a church in Northern Russia)
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Healed in a dream
“One of the ladies in our church showed up in an unbeliever's dream, prayed for him and he was healed!”
“Let me start from the beginning. Our good friend Mark Hendrickson preached an inspiring message to our church in Russia over Zoom a few weeks ago. He talked about stepping out of the box of our normal prayer life and moving into some new unexplored realms of prayer. Our church loved his message and immediately put it into practice.”
"One day Tanya was watching a TV show about dangerous vocations. The episode highlighted electricians. She found herself strangely moved to pray for those in this trade."
“Tanya is a massage therapist and typically works with children only. So, when she received a phone call from a gentleman whom she’d never met, asking for a massage, her initial response was, “No.” However, she felt a little nudge from Holy Spirit to help this man, so she said, “Yes.””
“The man came to her office; she gave him a massage and when she was finished she asked if she could pray for his back. He agreed. She laid her hands on his back, prayed and the pain immediately left. He was so excited he paid her double for the massage.”
“The man went without pain for about a week, until he woke up in the middle of the night with intense back pain. He eventually drifted back to sleep. As he was sleeping, he saw Tanya, our massage therapist, dressed in white, come to him in his dream. She laid her hands on his back and when he woke up the next morning, he realized that the pain was gone! The man was so excited that he called her to tell her what happened.”
"And guess what the man's vocational trade is? You guessed it - he's an electrician!"
“God is doing a new thing! (Isa 43:19)” – D&Z
5. Stories to Inspire
We’ve been talking about engaging the ‘cloud of witnesses’ recently. If you’re asking if this is Biblical… consider the Mt of Transfiguration where Moses and Elijah met with Jesus and “spoke about His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Lk 9:31). Old Testament saints stepped out of the unseen realm and literally advised Jesus so that He could “set His face toward Jerusalem” (Lk 9:51).
If it’s true of Jesus, then it’s possible for us. Yes!!! How many resources of Heaven are we currently accessing? Doesn’t it make us want to reach for more?
In this second short story Earl gets a word of knowledge which gives first-hand account of a deceased godly saint still praying for her granddaughter, even after the grandmother dies.
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Saints working with us
“A young woman came to The Well a several months ago. Through her appearance, it was obvious she was ‘beaten up’ by life. Some from her choices and also from the abuse received from others. It was obvious from her posture she did not want to be there.”
“The Lord gave me a picture of someone praying for her, someone that had been praying for her all her life and this person said she would continue praying for this young girl until she received Christ as her Savior. As I am giving this word of knowledge she just broke and started to weep. All of her resistance to being there left and she became vulnerable. Then the Lord gave me a name, so I asked her if this person was named Ruth. Her brokenness intensified and she fell to the floor as this is the name of her grandmother who had passed away some time ago, and who she now understood was one of the great cloud of witnesses praying for her even to this day. (Hebrews 12)”
“I then followed with the prophetic word concerning how the Lord was going to heal her emotions, set her free from her past and give her a future filled with wonderful possibilities and great expectations from a God who loved her and saw her as beautiful. She would have had a hard time receiving that word without her heart being unlocked by the word of knowledge.” - EA
4. Stories to Inspire
Josh emailed this story and exclaimed afterward, “It's a whole new world.” I think we all concur!
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It’s a whole new world!
“Thursday morning (around 8:00 am) I was at my home in Joplin, alone in the Glory. As I entered into His Light, I opened my eyes and was amazed that my entire living room was flooded with light! It was coming from my body! I was shining with a bright, white light. Suddenly, my thoughts went to a friend of mine who had been rushed to Kansas City for emergency surgery. I began to expand my spirit, and found myself standing beside her bed - (I was here… then I was there). My body was glowing and translucent - the hospital room was flooded with light. I thrust both my hands into her stomach, and she began to glow. I prayed in the Spirit and sang over her. Everything happened very quickly… and then I was suddenly aware of my physical body, sitting on the couch in my living room.”
“That afternoon, I called her - the phone rang several times, and she finally picked up. She was in extreme pain and was weeping. She said her stomach had swelled twice its normal size and she couldn't go to the bathroom. I began to speak Truth and healing to her. I commanded her body to function. Immediately, the presence of God was very intense. Her voice became calm. She said she was watching the swelling go down right in front of her eyes, and was a little embarrassed to admit she had to hurry to the bathroom.”
“Then she told me about an encounter she had around 8:00 am that morning. She said her room became very bright with light and "Heaven entered her room." I also found out her husband (who had left her several months ago) was there with her. I prayed over both of them and said goodbye. They returned to Joplin together on Sunday. She has completely recovered! I am now seeing their marriage being restored! Thank You, Jesus!!!!!!” – JC
3. Stories to Inspire
“Many will say, “Let us go UP to the mountain of the Lord….(for that is where) He will teach of His ways and we shall walk in His paths…”” - Isa 2:2-3
Where do we learn of His ways and how to walk in His paths? When we “go up”.
These frontiers are opening up the Heavenly realm, giving us new avenues of effectiveness, and helping us experience greater access to Heaven’s healing, hope and care.
Cheryl had never had a Heavenly experience like this before. She sincerely longed to have a genuine encounter… and didn’t want it to be an exercise of her own imagination. After this encounter, as she told the story, her copious happy tears were more than enough evidence to us and to her, that she truly had a Heavenly experience.
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Healed by my Father
“In a group ‘ascension’ experience, I asked the Lord to take me to His heart and Throne. As I began to ‘ascend’, quite unexpectedly, I found myself ‘traveling’ back to my homeplace in northern Philippines. I ‘came down’ on a gravel path in the middle of a large grain field. Father God met me and led me into a large white mansion. We walked through the mansion to a back patio where a ‘buckboard’ type 4-wheeled wagon was waiting. It was being pulled by a carabao (water buffalo). Father God sat in the front seat holding the reigns while I sat behind Him. As we traveled through large fields of full headed grain, it was incredibly elating to me to lean over the edge of the cart and run my hands through the heads of grain. Occasionally, He very lovingly looked back at me and we would laugh together. After a while, we ended up sitting side-by-side on a grassy high place overlooking all the fields. Soon, I realized that I had started this entire experience as a little girl, but somewhere by the end, I had transitioned to my current adult age. I felt exceptionally loved, secure, happy, full and carefree throughout the whole experience! Then… I was back in my physical surroundings.”
“Much of my early childhood, my earthly father was absent from us, paving a way for his family to join him in the US. This Heavenly experience brought to my attention a ‘father void’ that I didn’t know I was living with. My Heavenly Father healed me by showing me that He was ‘fathering’ me the whole time.” – CH
2. Stories to Inspire
The winds of Heaven are shifting! As you know, we’re reaching into more ‘ascended life’ realities. There’s a new awareness and faith for Heavenly experiences… even traveling with Holy Spirit in partnership with Him. As a result, there’s definitely an increase in personal stories. I think our Father is smiling with delight as we each find greater faith to explore our inheritances. We declare more grace to our ‘travels’ and Heavenly experiences!!!!!
In this next experience, John & Cheryl exercise their spiritual faith muscle and are surprised by Heaven’s confirmation.
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Heavenly exercise activates alarm
“Last night, as my wife and I were sitting in the living room we decided to ‘walk’ (in the Spirit) around the four corners of our property to speak blessing over it. There was much ‘reality’ in this experience… with several ‘experiences’ that seemed like we were really ‘there’. When we ended up back up at our starting corner, I put my hands between the lamp post and the tree and said to my wife “I’m now looking directly at our home”. At that very instant, our camera notifications rang simultaneously on both of our phones. We checked the notification video but there was no movement anywhere in the captured video. We felt like it was the Lord’s way of encouraging us and helping us to have faith in the validity and power of expanding our territory.” - JH
1. Stories to Inspire
Pat made himself available to God and is immediately transported in the Spirit to a friend who needs his encouragement.
Talk about partnering with God... and all it takes is just being willing and available.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!!!
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Holy Spirit Air travel
“Early one recent morning, I asked the Lord what He wanted to do today... where would He like to take me? Instantly I found myself in another state flying through a city that I used to live in, years ago. It was like a fast motion video through the streets. I came to a stop in front of a friend's house. I was taken in at ground level, up the stairs, down the hall, and into his living room. My friend was sitting in his easy chair, but it seemed like he was very discouraged or depressed. So I prayed for him 'there'.”
“After praying, I was instantly back in my chair in my home. A few minutes later, I called my friend. (I had no natural knowledge of any problems in his life.) I asked him how he was doing? He said, "It's so good that you called. I've been very discouraged. A few days ago, I got fired from the job that I've had for 20 years." I told him of my 'travel in the Spirit' experience a few minutes before and told him what I had sensed and what I had prayed over him. He was blessed!” - PB
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